


Stallion

by AgentLaufeyson



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Thor - Fandom
Genre: 16 chapters for the story, Don't worry, FLUFF IS MY DRUG, Gen, I KAHN'T EVEN, Random OCs which are only there to move the plot along, Reader's backstory is slightly sad, Sleipnir is Adorable, Sometimes it's so fluffy i'm gonna die!, They're not really important, also, and one chapter for the epiloge, but it makes sense as you keep reading, feeels, flufffff, omg, tagging is hard, there will be 17 chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 11:23:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2426921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentLaufeyson/pseuds/AgentLaufeyson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being an animal behaviorist you've come across your fair share of odd and intriguing creatures. But, when you come across a horse with a rather odd quality in the quarantine pen of the stable you work at, he really takes the cake. Things get even weirder when the owner of this animal comes forward, and let just say... thing don't go as planned. </p><p>Loki X Reader. Genre:Historical Sci-Fi<br/>There will be Feels, Fluff, Hilarity, Time Travel and Trickery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spike

"Heah!" You called as you kicked the sides of the animal you were riding. At the sound of your command the animal took off running. You were perched in a sadle on top of a tall black and white mare and you pulled at the reins telling the horse to turn left. You were taking the horse down a training path which gets animals acclimated and used to different surroundings. You continued down the path, using many verbal commands combined with tugging on the reins, to direct the mare through it. Her hooves made audible noises against the ground and periodically she would nay. As she ran you could feel the gentle breeze of the summer day brushing against your face and blowing through your hair. When you came back to the starting point, you gave the horse a pat, and hopped off of the animal, leading her back to her pen in the stable. 

You were an animal trainer and behaviorist, and you worked at these stables because of your immense love for horses. Your job here was to train the animals for riding and to desensitize shy, timid horses and socialize them so they were used to human interaction. Some of them were used in shows and agility contests, others became race horses and then some were adopted by family run farms. Other activities of your job were washing the animals, keeping the groomed, and making sure their hoover were taken care of. Occasionally you had to do paper work in the office. Horses were your favorite animal, and you loved being able to work with them everyday. It didn't even feel like a job anymore to you because you always had fun and enjoyed your time at the stables. 

You walked the black and white mare back into her pen, and gave her a few sugar cubes for a job well done. She did perfectly on the training path and was well on her way to being something great.

"Hum... You need a name don't ya?" You said to the mare. She was a new arrival and nobody had given her a name yet. You looked at the horse while you tried to think of a suiting name. She was white with large black spots, which almost made her resemble a cow. She also had a long black and silver mane. "I think Silver would be perfect for ya." The mare neighed, as if to say she was in agreement with her new name. You laughed, giving her another pat of the head, and then walked out of her pen, closing the door behind you.

"Hey, [name]!" You heard someone call. You looked to your left, and saw your fellow co-worker, Drake standing next to the pen of his horse. You hurried over to him, curious as to what he wanted. Drake was the same age as you, and you two had become great friends. You both shared a love for horses, and looked forward to going to work when you woke up in the morning. Drake was taller then you by about three inches. He had short brown hair, and blue eyes. He had a very fun loving, thrill seeking personality, and also had a great sense of humor.

"Hey!" You greeted him. His horse poked his head over the gate of the pen. Drake owned a beautiful black stallion that he kept here at the stables. The stallions name was Lightning, on account of him being such a fast runner. Lightning was a very well behaved horse as well.

"How'd it go with the new mare?" Drake asked you.

"Oh she did great." You replied. "She didn't even hesitate when it came to the different terrain types."

"Haha! Sounds like she'll be a quick learner!"

"And hows Lightning doing?" You asked, looking up at the stunning black stallion.

"He's great." Drake answered. "He jumped a double hurdle today."

"That's awesome! You guys will be ready for the contest in no time!" 

"We hope so!" Drake patted his horse. He and Lightning were training for an upcoming agility contest. Horses jump over hurdles, and followed specific paths while the rider directs them along the way. The top prize for the winner was a large sum of cash, plus other smaller items. "Hey... Did you hear about the odd horse, boss found?"

"Boss found a horse?" You said incredulously.

"Yeah! A wild stallion. He's really strange..."

"Strange... how?" You asked.

"Well... I think you should just see him for yourself." Drake replied. You nodded, and followed him as he led you to the quarantine pen in the back corner. Both you and Drake peeked over the gate at the horse inside. 

It was a light brown stallion with a long jet black mane. He stood in the back of the pen, staring at the two of you. You studied the animal, but it took quite a few moments before you noticed what Drake had meant by "Strange."

"Does he... have eight legs?" You said.

"Yeah. Boss thinks it's some sort of genetic mutation." Drake replied, "Odd how he lived to adulthood with it. Most horses with mutations die before they fully mature."

"His eyes are green too." You said, taking notice of the bright emerald color of the horses eyes. "That's very rare, but it's also odd because green eyes are associated with champagne colored coats. His coat is brown."

"Boss said that he put up quite a fight too. Took him nearly two hours to get him back here."

"Huh... He sure is a weird one..." You said, as you looked at the horse again.

"He doesn't seem to be aggressive." Drake continued, "I think he's just scared. Do you think you could work with him as well? You are the behaviorist after all."

"Alright. I see what I can do." You replied.

* * *

Later in the day you returned to the quarantine pen. You approached it, and the horse poked his head over the gate. 

"Why hello there pretty boy." You said. You held your hand up, offering the animal a big, juicy, red apple. He sniffed it a bit first, but then gobbled it up. You laughed, and then opened the gate and walked inside the pen. He backed up from you, standing in the corner. "It's alright. I'm just hear to look ya over." The animal didn't move much except for swatting his tail at the flies that were buzzing around. You couldn't get over how abnormal this horse was, and how he miraculously survived with such a mutation. You walked towards the animal, petting him on his neck. "See. I ain't going to hurt ya."

You reach up, and attempted to place a bridle over his head. To your surprise, the horse didn't fight you, and you easily strapped it on. You then took the lead, and stepped a few feet away from the horse. He followed you. You led him out of the pen and walked around a bit in the stable. You couldn't help but be amazed that even with eight legs this horse walked like it was perfectly normal. It was almost as if he had somehow adapted to it, and it didn't hinder him at all. It confused you, but also was highly intriguing. In all your years of working here, you had never seen such a unique animal before. 

After you walked him around, you notice that he had some leaves stuck in his mane, and also was a bit dirty. You decided that he need a good wash and brush. So you took to it. You washed him up, scrubbing the dirt and mud out of his coat, and then brushed out his long black mane. You noticed that he didn't even flinch when you did these tasks. This certainly couldn't have been a wild horse... He's all too calm to be wild.

"Oh hey!" You heard. You looked up, seeing Drake walking up to you. Lightning was by his side, in full riding gear. "How's it going with this guy?"

"It's going fine." You replied, as you continued to brush the horse's mane. "I don't think he was a wild horse. I think he belonged to someone. He walked just fine, he didn't flail when he was washed, and he doesn't mind being brushed. If he was wild he'd be trying his hardest to avoid such situations."

"Huh." Drake replied. "I wonder if he's micro chipped."

"Hum... Don't know. Boss has one of those chip scanner doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but he left. He said his wife called... some family emergency."

"I guess we'll check tomorrow then." You said. You finished brushing the horse, and put the brush back where it belonged.

"Have you tried riding him yet?" Drake asked.

"No I haven't. I don't know if it's a good idea yet. We don't know the personality or temperament of him, and don't know what he's like on the trails."

"True... Well we should try and put the gear on him... You know. See how he reacts."

"Hum... Alright." You agreed. 

You followed Drake and Lightning to the shed where all the gear was stored. The noise of the horses eight hooves clicking on the ground sounded in your ears as you walked. When you were at the shed, you tied the eight legged horse to the hitch post. Drake did the same to lightning. You and Drake both entered the shed, grabbing a sadle, blanket, reins, and the other gear. You placed the blanket across the horses back, and Drake helped you to life the saddle up onto him. He moved a bit at the sudden weight on his back, but did not show any aggression or discomfort. You continued attaching the rest of the gear and soon finished with clipping on the reins. 

"Looks to me like he's already used to this." Drake said. 

"He was definitely owned by someone." You stated.

"Why don't we go down trail 3a?" Drake then suggested. "You can walk him down it, and see if he reacts to anything."

"You read my mind." You replied. Drake and you had an ongoing joke that you both had some sort of telepathic connection. You always finished each others sentences, and had always had nearly the same ideas.

"Cool." Drake untied lightning from the hitch post, and climbed into the saddle. He took the reins, and started walking towards the path he mentioned while you followed behind, leading the eight legged horse.

The path you were was a small, short trail that passed by a river and ended in a large clearing. You walked down the path, observing the horse to see if he showed any signs of... anything. Be it fear, aggression, or something in between. The walk went just as you thought though. He proceeded down the path without any protest, and took to the terrain changes with ease. At the clearing, Drake hopped off of lightning, tying him to the tree nearby. You did the same with the unnamed horse.

"You know, we need to name him." You said. You were always one for naming every animal that came in, whether everyone called them that name or it was just you, it seem more appropriate then addressing the animal as He or She. 

"Well... what do you think we should call him?" 

"I don't know... His mane is kind of spiky, even though I spent twenty minutes trying to brush it... Maybe we should name him spike."

"Haha! I like that." Drake agree with a smile.

The two horses, Lighting and spike, both grazed on the near by grass, and ate the apples you and Drake had picked of an apple tree. 

Drake and You decided to relax in the clearing for a bit before you headed back to the stable, and got ready for the end of the day. You both laid down in the grass, watching the sunset shining through the trees. 

"Your really good at your job, you know that?" Drake said.

"Huh? What do you mean exactly?"

"Ha... well... I mean you picked up on everything really quickly." He continued. "When I came here, it took me a few months before I got accustomed to Boss's specific rules and high expectations. You came in, took them by the horns, attacked them and adapted.

You had to agree with him. Boss's expectations of your work performance and his strict rules did seem a bit over the top when your first started working here, but after you found a common ground that kept both you and Boss happy, then it wasn't hard to deal with such regulations.

"You are certainly the best trainer and behaviorist this ranch has ever had."

"Hehehe." You laughed. "You tryin' to flatter me?

"Is it working?"

You laughed again, "Maybe."

You both laid in the clearing for a little bit longer then you had planned. When it came time to return to the stable, you both got up from the ground and walked over to the horses. 

"You think he'd be alright to ride?" Drake asked.

You thought for a moment, recollecting on the behavior you have seen from spike so far, "Yeah. I'm positive he'd be alright. He hasn't shown any sort of out of the ordinary behavior."

You both untied the horses. Drake climbed onto lightning, and you carefully pulled yourself up onto spike, taking the reins. 

"Alright boy, let's see how ya do." You said.

Drake started down the path and you followed behind, taking it slow at first. Half way through the path you decided to see how Spike ran. So you used a verbal command. Spike took off running. Drake tried to catch up with you, but even though Lightning was incredibly fast, he was no match for Spikes' eight legs which carried him across the ground faster then you thought possible for a horse.

When you arrived back at the stable, you pulled on the reins, bringing Spike to a stop. You then jumped off of him, and moments later Drake and Lightning came up behind. 

"Wow! He's fast." Drake said in amazement.

You both took the riding gear off the horses, and placed the animals back into their respective pens. You offered spike a few sugar cubes, but, oddly enough, he didn't take them. He just moved his head way. 

Your co-worker was in a rush to get home, so he quickly gathered his things, and said goodbye to you.

"Bye!" You called. "See ya tomorrow!"

You went and got all of your belonging together, and then began to walk to your car.

While you were walking, you heard heard a horse's nay, and when you listened in closer, you swore you could hear a voice from inside the stable. You entered into the building, curious because all the other employees had already left.

When you walked further inside, you saw someone standing by the quarantine pen. You walked closer, now noticing that it was a man. He was wearing some sort of odd clothing which included what looked to be braces, and armor pieces. He was petting spike, the eight legged horse. Spike seemed to have some great affection for this man.

"Hey!" You called. You continued moving forward, closer to the man. "I'm sorry sir, the stables are closed for the day. You're going to have to come back tomorrow."

When you saw the man closer up, you could help but notice his bright green eyes, and black hair which almost mirrored that of Spike's. The same shade of green in the eyes. Bright, vibrent, emerald. And the same spiked hair style. You didn't know what to think of that, but you dismissed it for now.


	2. Taken

"Does this horse belong to you sir?" You asked the black-haired man who was in the stable, as you watched him continue to pet the eight legged equine. 

"Yes. I tracked him here, and now I intend to take him back."

"Whoa, slow your roll there. You can't just take him." You informed. "You have to fill out certain forms, and provide a proof of ownership. You're going to have to come back tomorrow morning. Operating hours of the stables end at 10 pm." The man was about to speak, but you quickly interrupted him. "I do apologize but I am not in power to release this animal to you, and the boss has already left. If you want your horse back, you will have to comply with the rules."

The man was silent for a few moments before sighed and then responded, "...Very well then. I shall return."

"And I asure you sir, your animal is in safe hands."

He gave you a small nod, and then walked past you and out of the stable. The horse whined a bit as he left, almost as if he didn't want the man to leave. You walked over to him, and petted him. He calmed down soon enough, and you walked out of the stable and towards your car. You got in your vehicle, and made your way home for the night.

The nest day, when you returned to work, you found Drake standing near the office, talking to Boss. 

"What's up?" You said as you approached the both of them. Boss looked at you, and you automatically noticed a worried look on his face. Obvious distress showed in his features, and upon seeing it, your face fell to a frown. "...What's wrong?"

Boss looked down at the ground, but then raised his head back up again. "I was just talking with Drake here, about why I had to leave so suddenly yesterday." He hesitated before he continued. "My wife's mother has been sick and... she uh... she died in the hospital yesterday afternoon..."

"Oh my... I... I'm so sorry." You said sympathetically.

"Carol was... pretty upset." 

Silence hung in the air around you, and your whole mood changed. You couldn't even imagine the amount of stress and grief that his wife now had. Even though he was trying to be strong, he seemed quite shaken up too. He never talked about his mother in-law much, but he would mention her on random occasions, recollecting on funny things she had done or said. He always joked that he could write a whole comedy act on her, and it would be a sure hit. 

"Daddy!" A girls voice sounded, breaking the silence. From out of the office, a little girl about the age of 8 or 9, with long blond hair, ran up to your boss. "Daddy... Do I have to stay inside? It's boring." The girl was wearing shorts with a flowery design in the stitching, a pink t-shirt, and a headband with a pink flower which held back her hair. She had brown eyes, and looked like a typical "Daddy's girl"

Boss looked at both you and Drake. "Oh man... um. I hate to ask, but could you guys watch my daughter? She had to come with me today, because her mom is working out the funeral arrangements with her relatives. I have a ton of paperwork to do today."

"Oh sure!" You agreed without question. Drake reluctantly nodded in agreement as well. He didn't particularly like little kids. It's not that he hated them or anything, it's just that he always felt nervous for their safety and always became a bit paranoid when he was around them. You bent down so you were eye level with the child. "What's your name sweetie?"

"I'm Lilly!"

"Lilly, this is [name]" Boss said pointing to you, as his daughter looked up at him. He then pointed at Drake. "And this is Drake. They're going to keep and eye on you. Be good for them, alright?"

"Alright!" 

"Thank you." Boss said to you and Drake. "I owe you guys big time."

"No problem!" You replied.

Boss returned to inside the office, leaving you and Drake to watch Lilly, and also to go about starting your day. Your first task of the day was going to be to check on the Silver, the new mare.

"You wanna go see some horses, Lilly?" You asked.

"Sure!"

Drake said he would catch up with you guys later. He had to go help some of the other employees with some mechanical problems they were having. That was half of Drake's job. Part of the time he was a handyman, and the other part of the time he did the same basic animal care that you did. He rather preferred working with the animals than fixing things, but he was fine with helping out when the situations called for it.

You first took Lilly to the tree near the office, and helped her pick a few apples off of the branches. After that, you and her both walked to the stable, and approached the pen which held Silver, the mare. You opened the pen, and the horse came right up to you. 

"This is Silver." You said to Lilly. "You wanna give her an apple?"

"Okay!" She held her hand out to the horse, offering her an apple. Silver ate the apple from out of the girl hand, which made her smile, and giggle. "She's cool!"

As your day continued, Lilly stayed by your side and even helped out with some things like brushing the animals. She enjoyed watching you do your daily work. You tended to the needs of many different animals, all of which you told Lilly their names. You showed her the ponies, which she really loved. Then, later in the day when you had a bit of free time, you asked Lilly if she wanted to ride one of the horses. Her face lit up with excitement and happily said yes. You asked her what horse she wanted to ride, and, unsurprisingly enough, she picked Silver. When you were dressing Silver in the riding gear, you told Lilly how each piece of the equipment was important. It was sort of like you were teaching her. When Silver was all dressed in full gear, you lead her and Lilly to the small pasture behind the stable. It was a fenced in, rectangular field where people would go when they wanted to learn how to ride a horse, or just were not ready to try the trails yet. You all went into the pasture and you hooked Silver to the fence. You turned towards Lilly and motioned her over to you. 

"Alright, what I want you to do is put your foot in here" You said, pointing to stirrups. "And then grab the horn of the saddle, to pull yourself up."

"I'll try!" The girl replied to you. She walked up to the horse, and lifted her foot up, placing it into the stirrup. You stood by her side, watching closely, just in case she slipped. She grabbed the saddle horn, and you gave her a push to help her up. She got up, and sat in the saddle.

"Great job!" You praised her. "No, just hang onto to the saddle, and we'll start walking."

With Lilly now situated, you took the lead, and led Silver around the pasture. You walked around the perimeter a few times, and then went along different paths within the field. There wasn't a moment of time where Lilly didn't have a wide elated grin.

After you took Her for a ride, she had the happiest smile on her face. You helped Lilly get off of Silver, and then you all walked back to the stable. You let Lilly open the gate to Silver's pen, and also give her some sugar cubes. You exited the pen, shutting the gate. As you were locking the gate, you heard Lilly's voice from behind you.

"Hey, [Name], Who's that?" She asked. You turned around and saw her pointing to someone, and when you looked in the direction she was referring to, you saw the man from last night standing in front of the quarantine pen again. 

"Oh! Good." You said out loud. You walked towards him, while Lilly followed you. When you reached the man, Lilly stood close by your side. "Ah, your back!" You noticed that the man was wearing different clothes then the last time you had seen him. And, rather then the leather-like clothes he had yesterday, these clothes looked much more casual,

"I said I was going to return, did I not?" The man replied.

"Right." You replied. "Then come with me, and I'll take you to the office where we can sort out the release forms." You looked over at Lilly. "Come on, sweetie."

You, Lilly and the man walked towards the office. While you were walking, you spotted Drake standing and talking to a few of the other employees.

"Drake!" You called. At the sound of his name, he came over to you. "Could you watch Lilly for a few minutes? I need to take this gentlemen to the office for release forms."

"Oh! So you are the owner of the horse we found." Drake said. You noticed that he stopped for a moment and looked at the man a bit quizzically, but then his expression quickly reverted back to normal. "Good to know he's going back to where he belongs."

Drake took Lilly, watching her for the time being, while you led the man the rest of the way to the office. Once you entered the building you went up to boss's little room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" He said in a somewhat angry tone. "I'm busy!"

"It's [Name]." You replied. "I have a gentlemen here who claims he is the owner of the horse you found."

"Oh... then come in then."

You opened the door, and walked inside. Boss's desk was filled with piles of scattered papers and pencils. He didn't look up from what he was writing on to answer you, but instead kept his eyes fixed on the information in front of him, concentrating on getting all of his work done. 

Before you could further explain, boss interjected. "I don't have time to do any release forms right now, so I'm giving you the power to do it, [Name]." He said. "You know the process well enough to know how to do it."

You were surprised by what he said, but seeing as how he looked like he was pretty stressed out at the moment you didn't question him. You said thank you, and then exited the room. You took the man down the hallway to another room. Inside, you went to a file cabinet and, after searching for a few moments, you pulled out the two forms that needed to be signed. You sat down behind the desk, and moved the computer mouse to awaken it from sleep mode. You quickly opened the database program which held the information on all of the animals here. 

"May I see your proof of ownership?" You asked the man. He handed you a piece of paper, which looked rather old. The document had begun to yellow with age, and the corners and edges were brittle and starting to tare. You looked at the document for a few seconds and quickly noticed that it was written in some language that you could not read. "What language is this written in?" You asked.

"Oh, You don't read runes?"

"Um... no." You replied. "But... I think we have a program here that will translate it." You stood up, and walked across the room, and placed the document in a scanner. You turned it on, and within a few minutes you had the image scanned into the computer. After that was done, you then opened the language program you had spoke of, and ran the image through it. The program analyzed the image trying to find a match to the odd symbols. It took longer then you anticipated, but it soon identified the language to be Nordic Runes. You had never heard of such a language before. You assumed that it must be some old Norwegian language or something. While the program was translating the runes to English, you took this moment to ask the man a question.

"What breed is your horse, if I may ask? He's unlike any other I've seen." You said. "His emerald eyes are very interesting, as it's very rare for horses to have green eyes."

For a few moments the man didn't answer. "He's... Part of a royal bloodline. Let's just leave it at that."

"Fair enough." You replied. A beep came from the computer, saying that it had finished with the translation process. Now that the document was in a language that you could actually read, you looked at it, and compared the information to the details that Boss had collected and added to the database when he found the horse. The horse's hoof had a identification number on it, which matched the ID number on the mans document. "You are Mr. Loki Laufeyson, correct?" You asked when you saw the name on the document. The man simply nodded. 'Huh... What an interesting name...' you thought to yourself. The document had all the correct information, so he, indeed, was the the owner of the horse. "Alright! Everything checks out. Now all you need to do is fill out these two forms, and you'll be all set."

You gave him the papers, and then left the room. You walked back to your bosses office and knocked again. 

"Boss?" You said.

"What?"

You opened the door, but didn't walk in. Instead, you stayed in the doorway. "Everything checked out with the horse. Mr. Laufeyson is the legal owner."

"Laufeyson? What kind of name is that?" Boss said.

"I think it's Norwegian."

"Anyway, is that all?" He asked.

"Uh... yeah." You said. 

"Good then please leave. I'v got work up to my neck and I'm swimming in papers that I need to find and file and send out and-"

"Boss." You said, interrupting him. "Just... relax. You don't need to stress out over some paperwork. You know that any of the employees, myself included, would help you in a heartbeat if you asked us."

Boss sighed and ran his hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his head. "I know... I know." 

"We're all here for you..." Neither of you said anything more of the subject. You gave boss a nod, and then walked back out of the room. 

You began to return to the other room, when you saw Loki walking down the hallway. He approached you, handing you back the two forms you had previously given him. You took the papers, and when you looked at them you couldn't help but notice the amazing handwriting. It looked like fancy calligraphy more then anything else. You didn't relize you had been staring at it until you heard someone call your name from behind you, which brought you out of your daze.

You turned around and saw Lilly along with another female employee. They both rushed up to you, out of breath and panting, and then began speaking in a very concerned tone. 

"[Name]! Some people are trying to take that eight-legged horse away!" The employee informed you.

"What?!" You nearly shouted. "They cannot do that! They don't have legal rights to take the animals off this property!"

"They say he's a species unknown to them, and they have to seize him to do some sort of investigation."

"UGH! What the hell!" You said, now yelling with frustration. "I just find the owner and this crap happens!!!"

Lilly spoke up and continued the explanation. "And, when Drake went to try and stop them, they knocked him down to the ground!"

"They attacked him!" The employee added. She then looked over at Loki. "Sir, If that's your horse, I'd suggest you hurry and find out what is going on."

"They are not taking him on my watch!" You replied. "You, come on!" You gave Loki a push, and began running quickly towards the stable. When you both got there you saw four people standing around the quarantine pen. One was a police officer, two of them wore white lab coats and were closely examining the animal, and the other was dressed somewhat like a bodyguard. The horse inside the pen was nay-ing loudly, and trying to get the people to stay back. He was obviously frightened.

"HEY!" You yelled out. "Get the hell away from him!"

"Miss, we have direct orders by-"

"I don't care! You can't take him! Now get out of here!" You moved towards the four people, but the bodyguard quickly grabbed you, holding you back and preventing you from getting at the other people. "Unhand me!!" You demanded. The guard did not let go even when you started trying to escape his hold. The guard was strong, and easily kept you restrained no matter how much you flailed. 

The two men wearing lab coats began pulling and tugging on the horses lead to try and make him follow them, but it was not such an easy task. The equine reared back, lifting his front legs off the ground, and ended up knocking one of the scientists to the ground. At the sight of this, the policeman quickly took out what looked to be a small hand gun. 

"NO!" You shouted. "Loki, Stop him!"

Even before you said it, Loki was already moving towards the policeman. He tackled the man to the ground, but was just a fraction of a second to late. The gun went off and out of the barrel came a small dart with a long needle. The dart hit the frightened horse in the hindquarters, making him emit a loud cry. The policeman pushed Loki off of him, and he and the other three people quickly led the horse way, into a truck that was waiting just outside the stable's back door.

"Spike!" You yelled out, as you ran after the men. You were no match for them though as they had quickly shoved the horse into the trailer and began speeding off of the property. You could only watch as the truck drove away with Spike inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Sleipnir... :(  
> The storyline is still developing so, please don't be discouraged just yet! There will be more Loki involved soon enough :)
> 
> And, before you all ask, there IS a reason why Loki acts the way he is... It will be told in the next chapter. ;)  
> If you spot any grammar, or spelling errors please point them out to me. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! :hug:


	3. Rescue

It was all you could think about. It was the only thing in your mind that would present itself to you. You couldn't concentrate on anything else, because it engulfed your thoughts, and wouldn't let anything else come forward. It overwhelmed all of your other emotions, and made you only feel sorrow, pain, and regret. You thought that everything was going just flawlessly, and nothing could possibly happen to ruin this day. 

But thoughts can often be wrong. 

As you stood there, watching the truck drive away with Spike inside the trailer, you felt horrible. You felt that this was somehow entirely your fault. Even if it wasn't, you still felt as though you were responsible. He was under your care, you were the one who was supposed to watch him and make sure that an event like this didn't happen. When the truck was out of sight, having already disappeared into the distance, you turned around and slowly trekked back to the stable. You found Drake on the ground, still recovering from being attacked, and walked over to him, offering him your hand to help him up. He took your hand, and you assisted him in getting to his feet.

"Are you alright?" You asked him.

"Yeah..." Drake replied. "I'm sorry... I tried to stop them but they-"

"It's not your fault, Drake." You interrupted him. "... You did all you could." 

You looked around, and saw that Loki was still lying on the ground from when the policeman shoved him. Both you and Drake walked over to him, seeing a somewhat bewildered, surprised look in his eyes. You extended your hand, and helped him up. 

"You okay?" You asked. 

Loki stayed silence for a few moments, but then answered. "Yes... I am fine."

“Uh... [Name].” Drake said. “Could I... Speak to you for a moment?”

“What is it?”

“Uh... Privately...” He continued. 

You sighed with annoyance. That unique horse was just forcefully seized from the property. What could Drake possibly want to talk about? You’d rather be thinking of a way to find those idiots who took Spike, and track them down, follow them and possibly recover the horse before it was too late. Who knows what “Research” they are going to do to him! Nevertheless, you reluctantly agreed and went outside the stable with your co-worker after telling Loki that you’d be back in a few moments.

“What, Drake?!” You almost shouted, clearly showing your frustration and impatience of the moment.

“Haven’t you noticed how this all seems familiar?”

“What do you mean?” You questioned him.

“I mean think about it. An 8 legged horse, unknown species to even the most knowledgeable scientists, we don’t know where he’s from, or how he got here,-“

“Get to the point!” 

“That guy’s name is Loki. Ring any bells at all?”

“...no.” You replied, not getting what he was saying.

“Didn't you ever listen in school when they taught mythology?!” Drake said.

“No. My school didn't offer it.”

“Well your school was a piece of shit! Listen to me; you need to stay away from that guy. If he is who he says, then he is the God of Mischief from the Norse mythologies!”

“Why are you making such insane accusations?” You replied. “Maybe that’s just his name?! Did ya ever think of that, Drake!?”

“Did you see how much he and that horse look alike?! The hair, the bright green eyes?”

“Stranger coincidences have happened before!”

“No, [name]! This is no coincidence!”

“So, what?” You said raising your voice, “We’re supposed to just let it go, and leave that horse to his death? Are we supposed to just walk away from this, and tell Loki that we can’t help him!?”

“It would be in the best interest if we-“

“You know what Drake!?” You interrupted. You were now completely enraged at your co-worker. How could he say such things? How were you supposed to just let this go and forget about Spike? It wasn't something that you could do. You wanted desperately to retrieve the horse and return him to his rightful owner. “I don’t care! Even if he is this so called ‘God of mischief’ he is still the owner of spike and we need to help him!”

“You shouldn't be getting involved with him! I've read the mythologies, and I know that helping him will only lead to trouble!”

“Even if you won’t help him, I am!” You were shouting now, and you were sure that anyone within range could hear every word of your argument.

“Fine! Go ahead! Don’t come cryin’ to me when this all comes back to bite ya in the ass!” Drake turned around and walked away from you angrily.

With the argument over with, you hurried back into the stable. 

You walked back over to Loki, and let out an annoyed sigh before you spoke. “Drake is acting crazy, and he's not going to do anything about this." You said, "I don't know about you, but I'm not going to just stand here. If we act fast, we should be able to catch up with the truck and follow them!"

"You're helping me?"

"Of course I am!" You replied. "Now come on, we can take my car!"

You grabbed Loki's arm and began running towards your car. As you both ran, you heard Drake yell at you from the distance.

"If you leave now, Boss says you're fired!" He yelled still in his hostile tone.

You stopped in your tracks for a second, almost causing Loki to run into you. 

There was one small thought in the back of your mind. Is this one horse worth losing your job over? This was the best job you've had in a long time, and you certainly didn't want to have to give all of it up. You practically lived on this ranch. You woke up every morning with a excited feeling knowing that you would get to work with animals all day. The pay was good, Your boss was much nicer then any of the ones you've had in the past, the coworkers were all friendly - So much that everyone here seemed like your extended family - But were you about to just give all that up just to save one animal?

You thought about this for what seemed like 5 or more minutes to you, but in reality it wasn't even 30 seconds.

Yes... Yes you were. 

It IS worth losing your job, if it means reuniting the horse with his owner. If it means saving Spike from being killed.

You disregarded Drake's warning, and quickly opened the door to your car. You told Loki to get in, and as soon as he did you started the car and sped off down the road, leaving a dust cloud behind you as your tires threw up the dirt.

You drove speedily, looking for the truck. You came to a fork in the road and now had a critical choice. Left or right.

"Damn it!" You said. "Drake wasted valuable time and now I don't know which way they went!"

You sat there at the crossroads for a moment. To the left would be the street which leads into town, and to the right is the way towards the highway. You considered going left, only because you didn't know of any reason why they would go on the highway. The way into town is mostly farmlands, and then once you reach town... 

You eyes widened and you gasped at your sudden realization. "Oh course!" You said out loud. You then looked over at Loki. "I know where they're going!" With that said, you turned left, and continued towards town.

"Where would that be exactly?" Loki asked.

"The far west side of town." You replied, turning your attention back to the road in front of you. "There is a building there that looks almost like it's abandoned, but I've seen trucks parked in the lot out back; the same type of truck that took Spike! That has to be where they went!" 

From the corner of your eye you noticed that when you said Spike's name, Loki gave you an odd look. You let that go though, for you had more important things to worry about.

"I do appreciate your help, but why are you doing this?" Loki asked.

The question took you by surprise. "Why? Because I wanna get Spike out of those scientists' hands! I know what they do to those animals!"

"Don't you think yourself rather impulsive?" He replied, "Losing your job just to run to the aid of one animal?"

"I know, I'm crazy, but I just wouldn't be able to forgive myself if he was hurt." You said, your tone saddening a bit, "Those scientists only want him because they don't know what he is..."

"And is that the only reason why you're so fixed on saving him?"

"...What? No.... No. I would have done this for any of the horses at the ranch..." You paused for a moment, letting silence take over, but then you continued. "And I would have done it back then... If only I had known earlier..."

"What do you mean?"

You had trailed off as you spoke. Talking about Spike and the situation he's in made old memories of your childhood come flooding back to your mind. You hadn't meant to mention anything of it to Loki, but you couldn't help but recall that one horrible day.

"When I was younger... My father owned a smaller ranch with a few horses." You started to explain. "There was one horse who he taught me to ride... He always said that she was a special horse, a rare breed of sorts. There were only 400 of them known globally. I loved that horse, I rode her every time I came to the ranch with my dad. But then, one day, I came and my horse was gone... Dad said that she would be back soon... But he lied. I never saw her again."

"What makes you so sure that your horse back then was in the same situation that mine is now?"

"Because... I found papers in my dad's office... It showed that an organization took her, and my father agreed without question. But he only agreed because, they tricked him. They lied about their true intentions" Tears were almost starting in your eyes, but you held them back. "After I found the papers I found the organizations information online... My horse was on their public files. They were doing tests on her because she was a rare breed... But in the process of those tests... it killed her." Silence came again, lingering in the air around you and Loki. Flashbacks of you and your horse came and went in your head, distracting you from driving. You shook your head to regain yourself and focus once again on the road. "I told myself that I would never let anything like that happen... not to any animal I knew."

Loki was about to say something to you, but before he could, you noticed that the sky was suddenly darkening. Large storm clouds were rolling in directly towards you. In the distance you could see bright flashes of light illuminating the sky, and getting closer and closer. The thunder accompanied the bolts of electricity and grew louder in volume until it was booming right above you. 

You continued driving, but were more careful. You gazed at the sky, confused as to how the storm front came in so fast, and so suddenly. "This doesn't look good." You said. The lightning was striking down very close to you, which frightened you so much that you pulled your car over to the side of the road and stopped. 

"You have no idea..." You heard Loki say. Seconds after you heard another loud thunder clap. It was so ear splitting that you jumped in surprise of it, and covered your ears. The next thing you remembered was seeing a blinding flash of lightning, but after that you black out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this has a bit of strong language in it, but that probably a one time thing. Drake was pretty ticked so I just felt like he would resort to cussing :shrug: tells a lot about his character doesn't it?
> 
> So... The reader has a bit of a sob story from their past, which explains their impulsive actions. I know it seems cliche, but i assure you that there is more to it than you think. The readers story will actually play another part in further chapters.
> 
> The ending of this chapter was a bit rushed, but it works. (LOL. Can you guess who's coming XD)
> 
> Let me know what you think so far :) I'd love to know your opinions.


	4. Gone

You had absolutely no clue as to how long you were passed out, but when your sense of hearing started to come back you concluded that you must have been coming to. You first heard the crickets that were in the grass as they chirped. Then you heard other sounds: the wind blowing through the trees, rumbles of thunder still in the sky that seemed to be farther away then before, and lastly; you heard voices. There were two of them. You easily recognized one of them to be Loki, but you did not know to whom the second voiced belonged. You could hear them speaking to each other, but you could not make out much of what was being said. You were drifting in and out of consciousness, sometimes tuning in to the conversation and then back out again. You tried to awaken yourself fully, but you were not able to do so.

* * *

_  
"Thor!" Loki yelled as he got up from the ground, "What are you doing here?!"_

_"I could ask the same question to you!" Thor replied, "Why did you come here? How did you get past Hemidall?"_

_"Did the All father not inform you?" The God of Mischief said in a bit of a sarcastic tone._

_"Inform me of what?"_

_"Something got into Asgard and released Sleipnir. He ran off and somehow ended up on Midgard. I'm simply here to retrieve him." Loki explained to the ill-informed God of Thunder._

_"Why would Father not tell me this?" Thor questioned._

_"Why does it matter? He trusted me to come and find him, not you."_

_Thor looked over slightly and noticed a girl lying on the ground. "Who is this midgardian? Have you resorted to mind control tricks again, brother?"_

_"No, I have not." Loki answered him._

_Thor walked over to the girl, and continued to accuse Loki of other misdeeds. "She is unconscious. What have you done to her?"_

_"I have done nothing. 'Twas your lightning and thunder that scared her." Loki replied. He looked over at the vehicle. It was flipped on it side, the passenger side windows shattered to pieces, the glass sitting scattered on the ground. "You're lucky that you didn't kill either of us."_

_"I wasn't trying to hurt anyone." Thor said. "Why are you traveling with this girl anyways?"_

_"Sleipnir found his way to a ranch and she was the one in charge of caring for him." Loki began to explain. "But, sadly, he was taken by some idiots, and now we have to go an get him back. She volunteered to help."_

_"Sleipnir was taken?" Thor repeated. "Why did you not simply stop them?"_

_Loki sighed, and then laughed. "I tried, but some mortals are stronger then they at first appear."_

_"But, you could have easily taken them. How did they best you in combat?" Thor asked in confusion._

_"Is it not obvious?" Loki didn't wait for Thor to reply. "Odin allowed me to leave Asgard in search for Sleipnir, but not without certain hindering circumstances."_

_"What do you mean, Brother?"_

_"He is still a bit un-trusting of me and only let me come here if I agreed to him... stripping my powers." Loki explained._

_"So You're - "_

_"Yes... For the time span that I am on Midgard... I am a Mortal."_

_"I see. Then I must stay and assist you in your search." Thor said._

_Loki quickly replied. "No! This is nothing of concern to you."_

_"But, Loki. Without your powers you will be unable to call on Hemidall." Thor told him. "You wouldn't be able to return to Asgard."_

_"That is where you are wrong. This is slightly different from from when you were banished here." Loki said. Thor's expressions changed a bit at the mention of his previous exile. "Hemidall sees all, and he and Odin have an agreement that when I am to return, Hemidall will open the Bifrost."_

_For a few moments, Thor was silent. "Well... It seems as though you have everything planned out."_

_"Indeed, I do. If I needed your assistance I would have asked."  
_

* * *

You eyes fluttered open as you awoke from your lightning induced slumber. You quickly realized that you were not in your car, but you were on the ground laying face down in the grass. You moved and pushed your self up off of the ground. You were a bit shaky getting to your feet, and you almost feel down, but you managed to stay upright. You had a small headache, and you rubbed the back of your head. You then heard a voice from behind you. 

"So, you're finally awake." 

You turned around and saw that Loki was sitting on the ground next to a tree. You waled towards him.

"What happened?" You asked. Your eyes wondered around and you then spotted your overturned car and nearly screamed. "Oh My God!"

"The Lightning came really close to your vehicle." Loki told you. "Far too close."

"Thank goodness we're still alive." You replied. Even being a bit in shock from the car accident, your mind wouldn't let you forget about why you were on the road in the first place: Spike. "Come on, the building where those scientists are isn't too far from here. We can still get there and save Spike if we hurry."

Night had fallen, and you had no idea how may hours had past since you were knocked out, but you knew that every second was going to count. 

You and Loki took to running down the road and you neared the west side of the city, the factory within your sights.

"Over there." You said, as you pointed at it. "That's the building."

You both continued running to the building, but, as you got closer to it, you stopped in your tracks, just barely avoiding running into the electrical fence around the perimiter. Out of reflex you held your hand out, and stopped Loki from running into it.

"Of course they'd have an electrical fence." You said. 

"Well there certainly must be a way in."

"Right." You agreed, "Let's keep looking."

You followed the fence around the building, and you found the entrance on the north-east corner. From afar, you watched a scientist type a code into a keypad next to the gate. A light on top of the fence turned green, and then allowed the scientist inside the premises. Once she was inside the fence, she closed the gate, and the light then turned red again. You amused that the keypad on the gate is what de-activated the electric fence.

You and Loki both made your way over to it. You examined the keypad and saw that it required a 4 digit number code. 

You took a few moments to think. What could the code be? What would scientists place as their entry password? It had to be something that was easily remembered by everyone with access to the building. Scientists are smart so they wouldn't make it anything obvious like 1234 or 4321. 

Your thinking was interrupted by a loud alarm noise. You looked at Loki, and noticed that he had broke the keypad, and tripped the alarm system.

"Are you nuts?!"

"We're breaking into a private laboratory in attempts to re-steal a stolen horse, how much more trouble could be get into?"

"... You're right, let's go."

You both swiftly opened the gate and then crossed the yard, and into the entrance to the building.

Once inside you knew that it wouldn't be long before someone would be chasing you. The alarm was still going and there were many voice in the distance that overlapped each other. You looked around a bit, and spotted a pile of long, thin pipes on the floor. You grabbed one, and then tossed one to Loki. "We can use these to defend ourselves. Who knows what sort of weaponry they have in here."

"I guess I'll have to resort back to my hand to hand combat training." Loki thought. Without his powers, which he was so dependent on for combat, he knew that he'd have to remember the basic fighting skills he was taught.

"Where do you think they'd be keeping him at?" You asked.

"Oh... Ha. I don't know." Loki replied sarcastically. "But I think that door that says 'Testing lab' would be a good place to start."

"This is no time for sarcasm." You rushed off towards the door that he had mentioned and tried to open the door. Alas, it was locked. You took a step back and then kicked the door, but it did not budge. You tried again, and got better results. The door opened, and you and Loki went inside. The room was very large and circular shaped. What caught you eye the most was that the whole room was a giant maze. And not an easily cheated maze. The wall of this maze were made of metal, and went all the way to the ceiling, so there was no chance of being able to climb over them.

From out of nowhere, you heard the cry of a horse from the distance. You knew for certain that it was Spike. There was something in the sound of the cry that told you that it was him. "He's in the middle!" You said, "We have to get through this maze!"

You both continued on, and then encountered a group of three scientists rounding the corner. They spotted you and ran your way. You didn't have much fighting experiance, but you were able to use the pipe to your advantage and hit the scientists over the head and knock them out. You noticed that Loki didn't have any trouble at all defending himself. He used the pipe effectively and he obviously had some background in self defense.

You came to a part of the maze that split off into two directions.

"Do we stick together, or split up into different directions?" You asked. 

"Split up. If one of us gets lost then the other can go on."

"Alright." You took off the left, while Loki went right.

You went through the maze, but encountered more and more problems as you went on. You kept running into dead ends, and one scientist sneaked up on you, and knocked you to the ground. You got back up, and use the pipe to swipe his feet out from under him.

In the other half of the maze, Loki was having the same amount of problems. Running into dead ends was increasingly frustrating to the God of Mischief. He wished that he had his powers of duplication or spell casting right now. They would help out immensely, but he had to do without them. 

You rounded another corner, and were confronted with another two scientists, a guy and a girl. Both of them were holding some sort of large gun, and you automatically turned around, bolting away from them. They chased you, and they the guy pulled the trigger on his gun. Flames came out of the gun, and nearly burned you. You picked up your pace, but the scientists were quickly gaining on you. You turned more and more corners, in efforts to confuse them and, in turn, you increased the distance in between you and them. As you continued running, you went past one turn, and felt a pair of arms grab you. You were about to yell, but a hand held your mouth shut, as the figure pulled you into a small hidden dead-end. It was only then did you notice that it was Loki. 

"Shhh." He said quietly, still holding his hand over your mouth. "Stay quiet. I've found the way to the center."

You both listened closely, and after a few moments you hear the voices of two male scientists.

"Grahh! They got away!"

"They can't be far, let's check the rest of the building!"

"Radio the others, and tell them that everyone is to drop what they're doing and search for the intruders!"

After a few moments the voices could no longer be heard. Loki let go of you, and motioned for you to follow him. He led you out of the maze and into the center.

"Spike!" You shouted. You dropped the pipe you had been carrying on the ground, and ran over to the horse, kneeling down by his side. He was on the floor, laying on his side. He was hooked up to many monitors that you couldn't even begin to guess what they were doing to him. He had an IV in his leg, and other things that you couldn't even recognize. What worried you most was that he was laying down. If these machines were not what was killing him, it was certainly the excess weight on his heart. "No, No, No. Come on boy, Get up." You said to the horse. His nay was soft, and he turned his head to look at you. "Please? Come on, Spike, Please get up!" 

One of the machines was a heart monitor, and it showed that Spikes heart rate was lowering drastically. You could hear it beeping behind you, and each time it beeped you could tell that each beat was getting father and father apart.

"No. Please ...No." You said in a whisper, as tears started to form in your eyes.

Spikes looked over at Loki who was standing a few feet away. He gave another low, weak nay. You watched his eyes lids close over his emerald green eyes.

And then he stopped making sounds at all.

In all your effort to get here, to fight your way through the scientists that stood in your way, to have come so close to where you could taste victory, it meant nothing. You heard the monitor behind you, flat line, while you felt Spike's head go limp in your arms.

You were too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ATTACKING YOU ALL WITH SLEIPNIR FEELS!!!! :evillaugh:  
> (Lol, I nearly started crying while writing that last part :crying:)
> 
> Please leave me a comment! I need your feedback! 
> 
> Also, if you feel saddened by this, please stick with me for at least one more chapter. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve ;)


	5. Bridge

You broke down crying in the middle of the laboratory. You held your hands over your eyes, trying to calm yourself down, but you couldn't stop the tears, no matter how hard you tried. They streamed down your face and clearly showed your despair. "No..." You said in-between sobs "No!!" 

Out of the corner of your eye you saw another scientist rush into the room. He stopped for a moment when he entered. You still kneeled down on the ground for a few more moments, but then, something within you completely snapped. All the sadness and tears quickly shifted to anger and rage. 

You rose to your feet, and stared at the scientist with an extremely pissed off look on your face. "You! You did this!" You then ran and picked up the pipe that you had dropped on the floor. You grabbed it, and moved towards the scientist. He tried to turn around and sprint away from you, but you were too fast for him. You swung the pipe and hit him on the side of his head, causing him to fall to the floor. You didn't let up in your attack, and continued to hit him hard with the pipe while yelling at him for what he and the other scientists had done. "You idiots!!" You shouted as you whacked him on his head again. You were shouting now, your voice increasing in volume alongside of your anger. "You killed Spike!" He had blood dripping down his neck from where you hit him below his ear. You stood over the man, placing your right foot on his chest. He pleaded for you to have mercy on him, but were not so easily persuaded. You were nearly about to deliver another blow to the man, but you were unable to, because Loki had grabbed your hand. 

"That is enough." He said to you, as he took the pipe out of your hands. In that short time frame, the scientist quickly got up and ran as fast as he could for having being brutally attacked.

Loki's actions seemed to have brought you out of your emotion-driven rage. You would have protested to him stopping you, but you were actually glad that he did. If you had continued that attack you could have badly hurt that man, and, even though he and then rest of the scientists deserve it for what they did to Spike, you would have felt horrible. It was not in your nature to attack. You hardly ever went so far over the edge that you resorted to violence. It wasn't like you at all. It was as if, for the time span of the attack, something else drove you to take your anger out on the unsuspecting man. 

You were terrified of the fact that you acted so barbaric and impulsive. You closed your eyes to attempt to hold back the tears that were forming in your eyes yet again.

"Do not cry yet." You heard Loki say.

"We failed, Loki! We were too late, and now... Spike's gone... He's gone..."

"There may be a way to fix this."

"...How?" You questioned. "Spike's dead... Science can't be use to bring back the dead."

"Science says that many things are impossible, but that does not always mean that they are." He replied. Before you could say anything in response, Loki walked closer to you and grabbed your arm, pulling you back to your feet. "Come now. If we are to do this, we must hurry."

You didn't know what he was talking about, but for whatever reason you nodded and quickly wiped the tears out of your eyes.

Outside of the building, you and Loki left through the gate, and went around the building. In the back, Loki led you over to a truck that was parked. 

"Get in." He told you. 

"We can't steal a vehicle!"

"We've already broken a number of laws, what's the addition of auto theft going to do?"

"...Fair enough." You replied. "But we don't have keys, and I don't know how to-" Before you could even finish your sentence, Loki threw a small object at you, which you almost dropped on the ground. It was the key. "He stole the key..." You said to yourself. "Genius."

With that you hopped into the driver seat, while Loki got in the passenger side. You started the truck and quickly drove down the road.

* * *

"Where are we going?" You asked Loki.

"To... A bridge." He replied to you.

"You're going to have to be more specific. There are hundreds of bridges in the city."

"The bridge isn't in the city."

"Then wher-"

"Just drive." He told you. "I'll will tell you where you go."

"Well... Alright..." You replied. 

As Loki had said, he gave you directions to where he wanted to go. You didn't know exactly how a bridge would help you in any way, but something in your head told you to trust Loki. After a while of driving you came to a road which lead into the desert. The big city scenery changed quickly from busy streets and tall buildings, to nearly deserted roads and vast open area of sand. The sun was rising over east horizon and colored the sky with bright oranges, yellows and reds. Throughout the drive, all was silence. Neither you nor Loki spoke a word, unless it was him telling you which way to turn or which road to watch out for. The silence had quickly began to create tension in the air. You waited a few moments longer, but you couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Please don't be offended," You started to say, "but... I think when I was passed out after the car accident, I heard you speaking to someone. Is that true, or was I imagining it?"

"You were not imagining anything." Loki replied. "I, indeed, was speaking to someone."

"Who was it? If I may ask."

"Someone who shouldn't be here." Loki said, "The oaf would only cause further problems."

"Okay then, one more question..." You hesitated before you asked. You weren't even sure if you wanted to know the answer. You heard a piece of advice somewhere that said; _"Don't ask questions that you don't want the answer to."_ But you were not sure if you should follow that advice. This one question had been burning in your mind ever since your last conversation with Drake. What he said... Was there any possibility that he was right? Was he able to see the truth before you even realized it? Perhaps you were so caught up in running to Spike's aid that you failed to see the truth that was standing right in front of you. When you thought more of the subject, it all seemed to play out perfectly, but yet Drakes theory was still far fetched and could very well be wrong... And, you sort of hoped that it was... but you couldn't help but wonder.

"Yes?" He said.

"There was something that Drake said... About you." You paused for a moment, and then sighed. "You know what, Never mind. You'll just think I'm crazy..."

"I've encountered a number of crazies in my time," He replied with a laugh, "I'm sure whatever it is you want to ask it won't be at all crazy compared to others."

"It's just that... even I think I'm crazy for just considering Drake's words." You explained. "It sounded more like a work of fiction rather than reality."

"Sometimes there is a very fine line between the two." Loki said.

"I suppose you're right. I just... don't know what to believe anymore." 

"Well, ask your question. Perhaps I'll be able to clear things up."

You sighed again. "...Okay. Well... he - he said that... that you... Look, I don't know how to explain it, so I'm just going to say it, alright?"

"Go on." 

"Drake said that you were someone for a mythology he learned... that you were some... God of Mischief." You kept your eyes fixed on the road, as you waited for Loki to say something. A few moments passed and he did not reply. "I guess I'm just insane. Forget that I said anything..."

"No... You are not insane." Loki said, "The truth is just hard for you to believe is all."

"So, Drake was right..." You replied. Thoughts were buzzing around in your head now. Drake's words echoed in your mind and made you second guess yourself. 'Helping him can only lead to trouble!' A sense of worry grew in the pit of your stomach. Half of you said _"Stop the car, get out and run!"_ But, for some reason, the other side said _"He hasn't tried to hurt you, so why would he do it now?"_

"I can see that the truth is distressing you." He replied, "You need not worry. I wouldn't hurt someone who is so determined at helping those in need."

"So... If you're a... God... why did you come here?" You asked.

"I came came to find Sleipnir. Something released him and he escaped from Asgard."

"Oh, so his name is Sleipnir?" You said, "I've been calling him Spike. I guess I should have asked you what his name was before."

"No, It matters not what you call him."

After a little more driving, Loki told you to make another turn and then to stop the truck. You were in the desert and when you got out of the truck you saw odd markings on the ground.

"What is that?" You asked, looking at it in confusion. " It kind of looks like a crop circle."

"It's a bridge." Loki said, "A.. magical bridge you could say."

"...Where does it go?"

"It goes to Asgard. There might be a way to fix the situation with Sleipnir." Loki walked closer to the circle, and then looked up at the sky for a moment. He then looked back at you. "You can either stay here, or if you want to still help with Sleipnir, you can go as well."

You were quick in your answer, which surprised even you, "I want to go with." You said. "I've come this far and I won't just stay here. I want to go and help with... whatever it is you have in mind to bring Sleipnir back."

"Hum. Very well." Loki replied. He walked to the center of the circle on the ground, and motioned for you to do the same. You hesitated for a second, but then followed. Loki looked up at the sky again. 

"Hemidall!"

You didn't know who Loki was calling for, but a few moments passed and a shined down from the sky. 

You weren't sure what this 'Asgard' was going to be like.

But you'd find out soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You went on an angry rampage 0_0 That scientist could stand up to your rage.
> 
> You and Loki are breaking so many Laws. XD Let's count them...  
> 1\. Breaking and entering.  
> 2\. Attempted theft of seized property.  
> 3\. Auto theft.  
> 4\. Disobeying authority figures.  
> 5\. Domestic Violence.  
> 6\. ...and who knows what else.  
> You two are...wait for it... partners in crime! :rofl:
> 
> So... You're going to Asgard, because Loki think that there is something there that could revive Sleipnir.  
> BUT! You have to wait to find out what! :Evillaugh:  
> The next chapter should be VERY interesting ;)


	6. Time is of the Essence

When that light from the sky shined down on both you and Loki, you had a strange feeling that you couldn't find the words to describe. The light was very bright so you closed your eyes. You didn't know what was even happening, but soon enough the feeling subsided.

Only to be replaced with the feeling of falling, quickly followed by your head hitting the ground.

"Ow." You said as you got up from the floor, holding you hand to your head. "What the hell was that?!"

"Hum. Dimensional travel must not be your forte." You heard Loki say. You looked over and saw him standing a few feet away. You then looked in front of you and saw another person standing on the opposite side of the room you were in. He looked rather intimidating, and wore a large gold helmet along with other golden armor. He stared straight ahead of him, not averting his eyes at all.

"You've returned." The man said to Loki. "I saw what happened, and I have already informed Odin of it all. He is awaiting your arrival in the Throne room."

"Thank you, Hemidell." Loki replied. 

"You should also know that Odin knows about [name]."

"I figured that much." Loki then looked over at you. "Come on."

You followed Loki out of the building that you were in and walked out into a dark night sky. With just one look it left you speechless. It was so gorgeous that you couldn't help but look around and stare. You were standing on a long colorful bridge that looked like it sparkled. All around you, even below, was vast open sky filled with millions of stars. You could see various planets of all shapes sizes and colours, and other planetary bodies like moons and asteroids even comets and falling stars. Perhaps the most amazing was the auroras that were dancing across the sky above the city in the distance. They were colored in green, lavender and pale blue and intermingled together to create even more colors, making the light show all the more dazzling. The sight around you was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. 

"Where... Where are we?" You said.

"We are in Asgard," Loki replied to you. "but we haven't any time to waste."

"Oh, Right!" You then remembered that you were here to help Sliepnir, not to sight see. You stopped looking around and returned to being focused on the task at hand.

Loki began walking down the colorful bridge and you followed after him.

As you walked you glanced downwards over the side of the bridge, and far below, you saw what looked to be a raging ocean of water. Even though the water appeared to be dark and certainly not something you'd want to be in, you still could help watch the waves as they crashed into each other. 

A random thought came to your mind and without thinking about it first you asked Loki, "How did that guy back there know my name?"

"He is Hemidell." Loki replied. "He sees what goes on in all the nine realms. You'd be surprised by how much he actually already knows about you."

"Hum... That's... kind of creepy."

"Think how bad it is for him. He sees everything." Loki said. " ...Just think about it."

You thought for a few moments... "Oh dear... Now I feel sorry for him."

You and Loki reached the end of the bridge and entered a large city. You noticed that all the people walking around were wearing either armor or other clothing that looked like they were ready to go into battle. You stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of all of them. A few people looked at you weirdly

One of them walked up to Loki.

"Loki! Where have you been?" She said. "You missed training today."

"Don't care, Sif, I have other matters to attend too." Loki continued walking, while you continued to follow him.

Soon, you reached a large building that looked like a palace of royalty. Inside, Loki and you walked down a few hallways before he stopped in front of a large door.

"You better stay out here." He said. Before you could protest or even ask why, he went into the room and shut the door behind him.

You tried to open the door, but it would not budge. 

Inside the throne room.

When Loki walked into the room, Odin approached him.

"Loki, I know why you've come back." He began to say, "And I must say I'm not at all thrilled with what you have in mind."

"I have yet to even tell you what I had in mind." Loki replied.

"There is but one solution to the problem at hand, you know that just as well as I."

"Then you must not say no, for it is the only way."

"I never said no. I just wish that it wouldn't have come to this." Odin replied. He knew how much Sleipnir meant to Loki, even though he wouldn't admit it, and to Odin, Sleipnir was a valuable battle ally along with a loyal friend. 

A moment later, the doors to the room opened and in walked two guards carrying you by your arms.

"Put me down!" You yelled at them as you tried to get out of their hold.

The guards continued walking forward and then stopped then they were in front of Odin and Loki.

"Odin," One guard said. "We found an intruder in the halls."

"She appears to be a Midgardian." The other guard added. "She claims that she came with Prince Loki."

"I did!" You told them. "Loki, Please. Tell them to put me down."

The guards looked at Odin. "Let her go." He said. With that command, the guards dropped you from their hold, causing you to fall to the floor. The guards then turned around to leave the room.

"Rude much?!" You called to them as you got up from the floor. "Yesh!"

"What is your name, Midgardian?" Odin asked you.

"Uh... My name is [name]" You said in reply to him.

Odin then looked back at Loki. "You shouldn't have brought a Midgardian here, Loki."

Loki let out an annoyed sigh. "Yes, I know this, but there are bigger problems upon us!"

"And you know that your action of bringing her here won't go without punishment."

"Oh! So Thor can bring Jane here anytime he pleases, but the one time that I happen to do it -"

Odin cut him off. "That is different!"

"What that is, is a double standard!" Loki argued back.

The two of them continued to argue for many more minutes, while you just stood there watching them... You then decided that you probably should say something.

"HEY!" 

"WHAT!?" They both said as they looked over at you simultaneously.

"Um... I just want to point out that I came here by my own choice." You said. "I didn't know that it would him in trouble... I only want to help get Sleipnir back."

"I see." Odin said to you. He paused for a moment and then continued speaking. "Given the current situation, I am willing to overlook this. Now, we should go if we are to do this correctly."

With Loki and Odin's argument resolved, You followed the two of them into a room that had many artifacts sitting on stands. There was another guard in the room that Odin walked up to. He told the guard something - you couldn't hear it very clearly though - and the guard then left the room. The three of you resumed walking through the room. About halfway through, Odin stopped and then walked up to one of the artifacts. It was a small circular thing that was silver in color. It had a dial on the top of it and, if you didn't know any better, you would have easily mistaken it for a watch.

"You know the dangers behind using this. I assume that you are willing to accept them." Odin said to Loki.

"Yes." Loki replied. 

Odin then looked at you. "This may see overwhelming to you, but if you really are fixed on helping Loki then you are going to have accept that what you are doing could prove to be dangerous." 

"What are we doing exactly?" You asked.

"Going back in time." Loki answered you.

"Time travel?!" You said in surprise. "But h-how is that scientifically possible?"

"Like I said before, Science says that many things are impossible, but that does not mean that they are."

From behind, you heard another voice. "Father, The guard said you wanted to see me?"

"Ah, Thor." Odin said. You looked over and saw a blond haired man enter the room. He walked closer to the three of you, and Odin continued speaking. "I have agreed to let Loki and the Midgardian go backwards in time in attempt to prevent Sleipnir's death. I want you go along and ensure their success."

"Why does Thor have to come?" Loki said.

"Because, he can provide additional help." Odin explained. "And more help may be just what is needed to stop Sleipnirs demise."

"Brother." Thor said to Loki. "I only wish to help."

Odin handed the circular artifact to Thor.

"Alright, you three. All you have to do is set the dial for the correct time and date and then activate it by touching the gem in the center."

"What point in time do we go back to?" Thor asked. "Before he was killed, correct?

"No, we should go back to just before Sleipnir was taken from the stable." You suggested. "That way we can relocate him before the scientists even get there."

"Smart thinking!" Thor said to you. "And what time would that be?"

"The 29th," You replied as you looked over the time travel device. You thought for a moment about what time the scientist appeared. You estimated that it was around 3pm. "At 2:15pm. That should give us enough time to get to the ranch and get Sleipnir out of there before the scientists arrive." Thor turned the dials on the device. You and Loki were standing on either side of him. 

"It's set." Thor said. "We ready?"

You and Loki both nodded. And with that, Thor touched the the gem that was in the center of the artifact. A moment later, the gem began to glow, and then a field of energy surrounded all three of you. Soon enough, the energy had gained enough power and Loki, Thor and you were all sent back in time.

* * *

In the entrance of the artifact room, Frigga was watching the whole thing as it happened. She didn't have any problem with the use of the time travel device, but there was one thing that did worry her.

"Odin." She said as she approached him. "You did tell them that we never found the other half that allows them to travel forward in time... right?"

Odin was silent for many moments before he took a deep breath. "May luck be on their side."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to take this moment to say that on DevientART, the lovely ~[Silvernish](http://silvernish.deviantart.com/) drew gorgeous image of Sleipnir, which is what I use as the Preview on DA and Fanfiction. [Take a look](http://silvernish.deviantart.com/art/Xmas-2012-Gift-SunnyDee-345064989) at the drawing and tell her how awesome she is!


	7. Stuck

From what you could tell, The time travel device had worked. After it was activated, it only took a few moments before you were transported to... somewhere. You didn't know exactly where. Seeing as how the device didn't seem to have the ability to specify a specific location, it was anyone's guess as to where you, Loki and Thor ended up. You looked around a bit, and you automatically knew that something went wrong. The three of you were standing in a small alleyway of what looked to be an old town. It looked like one of those cliche towns that you see in western movies.

You looked up at Thor with an angered expression and then began to yell at him. "You Nitwit! What the hell did you do?! We were sent back to far!" You didn't even let Thor get a word in edge-wise. You looked at the time travel device that he was still holding. "Gimme that!" You quickly snatched it from his hands and slipped the watch-like object over your wrist, just to make sure you could keep it out of Thor reach. "I'm going to do the date setting from now on!"

"I am sorry." Thor said. "I have not used this device before, and Father only briefly explained it."

You let out an annoyed sigh at Thor foolishness. Besides that, figuring out where and when you were was the only thing on your mind right now. You walked up to a man that was passing by you and very politely asked him, "Excuse me sir, Do you by chance know what day it is?"

"Yes, it's Sunday."

"No," You shook your head. "the date."

"The 23rd." He answered you.

"Of?" 

"...January." The man gave you a weird look and back up from you a bit.

"The year, man! The year!" You replied in a frustrated tone. "What year is it?"

"1848!"

"Thank you!" The man still gave you an odd look. "Geez. Look at me like I'M crazy."

He turned around and then quickly walked away from you.

You walked back over to Thor and Loki. For a minute, you didn't say anything. "January 23rd, 1848." You stated. You knew exactly where you were now. Or... when you were at least.

"What is so significant about that date?" Thor asked you.

"This day is just 1 day before gold is going to be discovered at Sutter's mill in California." You said. "This is the start of the California gold rush."

"Couldn't we just reset the device to the correct date and activate it again?" Loki said.

"Yeah, It should work fine." You replied, "We can't be here anyways."

"And why is that?" Thor asked you.

"This was a major event in American History. If we mess even one thing up, it could potentially drastically alter the future." You explained. "I may not know anything about time travel, but I do know that you can't screw up the past." You looked down at the device on your wrist. You tried to turn the dials forward to go to the correct date, but it didn't work. The dials wouldn't move the way you wanted them to. "Huh? Somethings wrong..."

"What is it?" Loki asked as he looked at the device.

"The dials won't go forward... They'll only go farther back in time."

"That's odd." Thor said. "Father never said anything like that would happen."

"Maybe he didn't know." Loki replied.

"He was the one who recovered the artifact, he had to have known."

Before the two of them could even begin to argue with each other you intervened. "I don't care whether or not he knew this was going to happen. You two are not realizing the severity of this situation!"

"Could we not just simply return to Asgard?" Thor said. "We can go and seek assistance there."

"Look," You replied. "I don't know how you guys age where your from, but this day happened 165 years ago. This is before any of us were even born."

"But how would that prevent our return to-"

"You're not getting this!" You nearly shouted at Thor. "From what I've learned in Sci-fi movies, going back in time I would guess that we'd all assume the roles of your past selves. But, we're in a time where we don't even exist yet!" Before Thor could even ask anything, you continued speaking. "That means that neither of you have the ability to call to that gatekeeper guy so you wouldn't be able to return to Asgard even if you tried!"

"For someone who doesn't know anything about time travel, you sure figured it out easily." Loki said to you.

"It's common sense mostly." You said in reply. You then sighed. This was not what you had expected to happen. You had never planned for anything even remotely like this. You thought that everything was going to go smoothly and you even had a plan on how to get Sliepnir out of the stable and knew where to relocate him. But that plan has been thrown down the drain. 

You may have been the only one that realized how bad of a situation you three were now in.

The time travel device won't work. 

You can't go forward in time.

You, Loki, Thor, all three of you...

were stuck,

in 1848.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND!!!! This is where I begin to screw up history XD
> 
> I really have no idea where I came up with the idea for you to go back to the gold rush period, but somehow the idea came to me and I said "GENIUS!"
> 
> I actually don't know what California looked like back then... So, I'm just gonna portray it as one of those old cliche western towns.
> 
> Anyway, Please read on!  
> And please remember to leave me a comment! I CRAVE YOUR OPINIONS!


	8. Comfort

You tried to remain calm, and on the outside you kept a straight face, but, on the inside, you were freaking out. You were back at a major event in history - the California gold rush - and you knew very well that even being here could possibly alter the timeline; how drastically it would effect history, was something you didn't know.

"Alright," You said to Thor and Loki. "I don't know how we're going to fix this, but before we do anything, we all need to change clothes." They both gave you a weird look. "We need to blend in with people of the time period so we don't attract any attention."

You were able to find a place where you obtained some clothes... by means that weren't exactly... legal, but in all honesty you really didn't care at the moment. You then rushed to where Loki and Thor were waiting for you. You had already changed your clothes, and you handed the remaining clothing items to them, while you quickly made them return to the alleyway that you were in previously.

"Why are you out of breath?" Thor asked you when you noticed that you were panting.

"Let's just say- that shop owner isn't- gonna be happy when he comes back."

"What in heavens name are these?" Loki said as he looked at the clothes you gave him. 

"I stole them, alright." You said lowering your voice. "I didn't have any time to think about it! Now please, just change. I'll be waiting outside the alley." You turned around and walked back out of the alley.

You waited for a few minutes and then Loki and Thor both came out of the alley. 

"This is ridiculous." Loki said. He obviously did not approve.

"Hey, I never said I liked the fashion sense of this time period." You replied. "But, at least we'll blend in better."

"Now the question is, how are we going to return to our correct time?" Thor said.

"I don't know." You said looking at the ground. "This is before all the advanced technology we have today was even invented."

"So what your saying is, we're stuck here?" 

"Unless we can miraculously find another device that will send us forward in time... Then yes."

* * *

You three had absolutely no clue what to do, or even if there was anything you could do. It seemed to have just now hit both Loki and Thor that the three of you were STUCK in the 1800's, and you had no way to return to you own time. Thor acted more irrational then Loki, but they both now seen how bad the situation actually was.

It had quickly begun to get dark out, and you knew that you had to find a place to stay, because you certainly didn't want to be staying in the streets. But this was much easier said then done.

"Well, we can't stay at a hotel." You said.

"Why is that exactly?" Thor asked you.

You took your wallet out of your pocket and looked through it. "Because, all I have with me is my credit card." You told him as you took out the plastic card. "Credit cards haven't been invented yet." You put the worthless card back in your wallet. You looked again to see if you had any money stashed, but you only found about 50 cents in change. You never were one for carrying cash around with you. You always had your checks from work directly deposited into your bank account, and you always felt safer with just a credit card rather than a bunch of paper bills. This was one of the only times where that has come back to work against you. It's sad really. With the amount of money you had in your account - Plus the fact that everything back in this time was much cheaper - you probably would have been among the rich people of this period.

"So we have nowhere to go?" 

"We don't have any money and there aren't any free hotels."

From behind you, another voice spoke. You all turned around from where you were standing and looked to see who it was. There was a man standing there. He looked to be around his late 30's or early 40's.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear." The man said. "You are in need of a place to stay?"

"We are... yes." You said. "Uh... Who are you?"

"My name is James." The man replied. "I operate a saw mill close by here."

"A sawmill?" You said. "Who'd want to stay in a saw mill?"

"Oh, No no! You wouldn't be staying in the mill." The man continued. "We have numerous rest houses around the mill which we own as well. You are welcome to stay in one of those."

"Oh... That is very nice of you, sir, but why would you be so kind to total strangers?" You asked.

"I believe in karma. If I do a good deed, perhaps good karma will come my way."

Seeing as it was the only option you had, the three of you decided to take the mans offer.

"Right then! Come!" He said to you three, motioning for you to follow him. "I shall show the way!" You, Loki and Thor followed behind him. "It's only a short walk from here!"

As you all followed James down the road, Thor said to you, "Should we be following this man? I have a bad feeling about this."

"Don't." You assured him. You then lowered your voice to make sure that James couldn't hear you. "That's James W. Marshall. He's the one who going to find gold tomorrow which is going to start the mass migration to California."

"HA! So good karma will come his way!"

"Heh, I guess."

Like James had said, it was only a short walk until you reached the rest houses that he spoke of before. He led you to one of them, and opened the door for you. You all walked in, and James followed after.

"I'm sorry it's a bit small." He said. "There's only one bedroom, but the couch is big enough for two of you to sleep on." He walked through the hallway, and showed you where the bathroom was and showed you the kitchen. "There is some food and drinks in the icebox and cabinets. Feel free to help yourselves to whatever. We can easily replenish the supply."

"We appreciate your kindness." Thor said to James. 

James left you three to settle into the house.

Even if it was small, it was a place to stay.

Later in the night, James came back to check on you all.

"I'm heading out to town with some friends of mine. Do you guys fancy yourself a drink?"

"No thanks." You told him. "I'm not to big on alcohol."

"Neither am I." Loki said.

James looked at Thor. "What about you? You look like a man who'd enjoy a good drink."

Thor seemed hesitant to go with James, but he then remember what you had told him earlier. After a few moments, he agreed, and he and James left.

Loki laughed after Thor had left. "He obviously learned nothing from his drinks with Selvig."

"Huh?" You said. "What do you mean?"

"A while ago, he was on Midgard and met Jane and Selvig. One night He and Selvig went out for drinks at a bar and apparently he was so out of it that Thor had to carry him home."

"Oh dear." You said with a laugh. "Was he drunk too?"

"No. He can't get drunk."

"Really?" You asked. "How is that possible?"

"That's one thing that even I don't know."

Loki had sat down on the couch in the main room. You could obviously see that this whole situation must have been depressing him. You walked over and sat down on the couch next to him.

"Hey..." You said to him. "...I'm sorry this all happened."

"What, that we were sent too far back in time?" He replied. "That was Thor's fault."

"No, I'm not talking about that. I meant about Sliepnir." You sighed as your mood saddened a bit. "He was in my care and I took my eye off of him for just long enough for the scientist to get him. And just long enough... for him to die. In a way this whole thing was all the fault of my own."

"You cannot blame yourself." Loki said to you.

"I know I shouldn't, but I do. I can assure you that I'm going to try and figure out a way to fix all of this. To get us all back to our correct time period, and then go back and stop Sliepnir's death. If there is a way... I'm going to find it."

There was a few moments of silence.

"Heh..." Loki said as he gave a small smile. "...Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL. When When I wrote this I imagined Thor and Loki dressed as cowboys XD  
> Hilarious mental image right there.
> 
> ANYHOO! I am trying to keep this as historically accurate as possible, but I know there is going to be some inconsistencies. Sorry. 
> 
> James Marshall would actually be 38 years old during this time. I did the Maths.
> 
> (Ehehe, What kind of literature genre is this anyway? Historical sci-fi?)
> 
> LOL, Thor is going out to a Bar with James XD I wonder how that will turn out ;)
> 
> AND! I FINALLY hinted at the Reader X Loki relationship XD Took me long enough eh?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! The next chapter will be posted very shortly.


	9. Conspiracy

When Thor returned to the small house, he found you asleep on one side of the couch, and Loki asleep on the other. He didn't want to wake either of you up, so he quietly walked into the one bedroom and slept in the bed for the night.

* * *

In the morning, you and Loki were both woken up by the sound of someone knocking on the door. You wanted to just lay there for a few minutes longer so you ignored the obnoxious sound. The knocks continued though, and the noise was quickly beginning to annoy you. You got up from the couch and walked to the door, opening it to reveal a male police officer standing there.

"Yes... Officer?" You said.

"Is someone by the name of..." He looked at a piece of paper he had in his hand. "Thor, here."

"Um... Yes." You replied. You suddenly began to get worried. "Is... Is there a problem?"

"No, miss" The officer said. "I just need to speak with him."

"Oh... alright." You did know whether to be relieved or to still be worried. The officer may have said that he only wanted to speak with Thor, but, you've watched your fair share of crime shows, and you know very well that they say that just so that the person they're after will come out. "Come in."

The policeman came in and you closed the door. You told him that you'd be back in a moment, and you then went to the bedroom to wake up Thor.

"Thor." You said, as you shook his shoulder. "Wake up."

"Hum? What is it?"

"There is a officer here who wants to talk to you."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know." You replied.

Thor got up from the bed and you both walked back into the main room. Loki had gotten up now, and the officer had taken a seat on the couch. He motioned for the two of you to sit down, and you both did. Before any of you could even say anything, the officer began to question Thor.

"Were you with a Mr. James Marshall last night at the bar?"

"Um, yes," Thor replied. "Is something wrong?"

"Would you say that Mr. Marshall was heavily intoxicated?"

"...Yeah. You could say that." Said Thor. The officer took a pencil out of his pocket and started writing on the small pad of paper he had.

The officer then continued to ask questions. "When Mr. Marshall left the bar, was he in a stable condition where he'd be able to get himself home?"

"No. He actually passed out when he was drinking."

"Is that so?" The policeman said, jotting that down on his notepad. "Do you know of how he got home?"

"No, I don't."

"Why exactly are you asking these questions?" Loki said.

"Sometime last night, James Marshall was found... dead."

That statement took you by great surprise. "Wh... What?! Y-You have to be kidding!"

"I'm not kiddin', miss."

"So he just... Died?"

"He didn't just die." The officer said. "... He was murdered."

* * *

What the officer had told you literally left you speechless. You couldn't believe that this had happened. Why did this even happen? This was not how things were supposed to go. James was supposed to live, and find the gold at the mill later in the day. What happened that changed that? How was history altered?

The officer wanted you all to come with him to the crime scene, in case any of the other investigators had further questions. The scene of the crime was near town, in a ditch at the base of a large hill. When you were at the top of the hill, what you saw was horrifying. There was a large amount of blood covering the grass in the area around the body. You were able to walk a bit further down the hill, but you were not allowed to get to close. More police and medical personal were on scene recovering the body from out of the ditch. The officer that had escorted you here walked off and started talking to another fellow policeman. After a few moments he walked back over to the three of you.

"Do you know how he was killed?" Thor asked.

"The medical team has identified that he had some major head trauma possibly caused by a blunt object. He has multiple stab wounds 'cross his chest and neck, and two major arteries were severed, causing massive internal bleedin'."

"Sounds gruesome." Loki said.

"It is." The officer replied. Looking forward again, he noticed one of the other officers waving for him to come over, and pointed to the three of you. "I think he wants to talk to you."

You all started to walk further down the hill, but getting closer to the scene made feelings arise that made you slow down. When you reached the other officer, he began asking questions but you barely said a word. You tried to keep your nerve under control, but they quickly overtook you. You couldn't take the sight of the horrible scene in front of you, and you turned around, but in the process, you ran into Loki.

"I - I'm sorry." You apologized. "I - I can't-"

Loki must have noticed your behavior, because he tried to stop you and ask what was wrong. You didn't let him though, because you just had to get away from the murder scene. You continued walking away, picking up the pace a bit, until you were on the other side of the hill. You stood there trying to push the horrifying visuals out of your mind. 

"Whats gotten into you?" You heard Loki say from behind you. You tried to reply, but you were so traumatized that you couldn't even speak. Loki put his hand on your shoulder. "um... are you alright?"

"I... I'm fine." You managed to say. "I just... can't be here."

"Perhaps you should go back to the house."

"Yeah." You said. You hesitated a bit before you then asked, "...Can... can you go with me? There's a murderer loose and..."

Loki didn't need your explanation and he agreed to take you back to the safety of the house. And for that you were glad. Glad because you, honestly, were utterly terrified. There is a killer out there somewhere and you had already seen the horrific damage that they had inflicted on their first victim. It seemed that death was following you. First it was Sleipnir, and now James. You never were afraid of death, but with the recent events, you were almost fearing for your own life. As you and Loki were walking back towards the house, your eyes kept glancing around. You had that strange feeling that felt like you were being watched and put it you in a state of paranoia. 

When the two of you reached the house you quickly went in, sitting down on the couch.

"You need to relax." Loki said to you, noticing that were still were shaken up by the event. "Nothing is going to happen."

"I know... I just really freaked out when I saw James dead." You replied. "I've never seen a dead body before."

"It's understandable that you'd feel that way." Loki sat on the couch beside you. "But there is no need for worry."

You still were a bit worried knowing that James's killer is still out there, but there was something about just sitting there and talking to Loki that made you feel better. You couldn't really explain it, but he made you feel... safer somehow.

"Thank you." You said, laying your head on his shoulder. You thought it would have surprised him, but it didn't seem to bother him at all.

* * *

Thor came back a while later.

"Hey, they found out who killed James." He said as he entered.

"Really?" You said. "Who?!"

"It was his employer." Thor replied. "What's his name... Mr. Sutter?"

"Oh... My... God!" You nearly shouted. "It makes so much sense! Sutter had the perfect motive!"

"Motive?" Thor asked questioningly.

"He must have known that gold was on the mill's property, but he needed help to find it. James was always finding clues of it, and when Sutter had enough clues, he took the chance to murder James, so he could find the gold keep it all to himself!"

"The authorities said that there have been problems in the past with the employees of the mill going missing." Thor explained further. "They passed it off as a mere conspiracy because they never found any evidence, but after this they've taken Sutter into custody."

"See?" Loki said to you. "I told you there was nothing to worry about." You smile at him.

And then something came to you.

"...Wait a minute." You said to Thor. "What did you just say?"

"They took Sutter into custody." Thor repeated.

"No, no, before that."

"They considered it only a conspiracy before?"

Suddenly, the light bulb above you head went on. You smiled happily. "Guys... I know now of how we can get back to the future."

"How?" Loki asked.

"Two words. Government. Conspiracy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I have single-handedly changed history XD
> 
> Sutter murdering Marshall seemed to fit in my mind. I really don't know why, but it does.  
> Plus, It gave the reader a reason to freak out and then for Loki to come to your aid :D
> 
> You comforted him in the last chapter and now he's doing the same for you.  
> It's an equal partnership already!
> 
> And yes, Government Conspiracy. That is what is going to solve all of the problems.   
> How? Well you have to wait and find out next chapter :evillaugh: (Don't worry it'll be posted in a moment)
> 
> (When I re-read this, I noticed that this chapter is a bit choppy in some parts. Sorry.)


	10. When You Wish Upon A Star

"What exactly do you mean by Government conspiracy?" Thor asked you.

"The U.S. Government, like anything, is always subject to rumors." You said in reply. "Some rumors go so far that people begin to believe them to be true even though they have very little evidence to prove it. The rumors turn into conspiracies. In modern times, the conspiracy of time travel is largely debated, and even back in this time, there have been rumors of it."

"So what exactly does this mean for us?" Loki said.

"Well, time travel obviously exists, so the conspiracy must be true." You stated. "There are things that the government doesn't want us to know, so they keep it secret. The U.S. government has a time travel device. We just have to find it."

"Where would we find it though?" Said Thor.

"That's the problem. It could be many places, but, I do have a hunch that it would be stored at a military base. Somewhere with a lot of security."

"Do you know of such a place?"

"Hum..." You thought for a few moments, trying to reach farther into your memory and go through your history knowledge. "Maybe... I need to see a map. Is there a map in here anywhere?" You started looking around and you found a map of the area folded up inside the front cover of a book. You unfolded it, and then set it on the table. You studied the map for a few moments and then spoke again. "Alright, we're at Sutter's mill, which is in this general area right here." You said circling the area with your finger. "I remember reading something that said that there is possibly three secret underground military bases in the deserts of Nevada, over here. It'd be a good place to start." You folded the map back up and held onto it, because you knew that it could be useful later.

"That's over 400 miles we'd have to travel." Thor pointed out. "How ever are we to get there?"

"Damn." You said. "We can't ride the train due to our money issue. I guess the only option is to acquire some horses." You then looked over at Loki. "Horribly cruel irony, I know."

"Sounds like we have a plan." Loki said.

"Right. Now first things first, we need to find us some horses."

* * *

Back in town, all three of you were looking for the animals you needed, and easily found some that were being sold and rented. There was two horses in a pen and in front, a large man stood trying to talk another person into buying one. The salesman's efforts went without reward though as the customer just simply walked away. You, Loki and Thor were standing and looking from afar.

"Hum... The horses don't have all the riding equipment on." You stated noticing that the horses did not have their saddles. The saddles were resting over the fence of the pen. "We'll need a good distraction."

You looked back at the salesman and another man was talking to him. You couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but you were able to get that the second man asked the salesman is he wanted to go to the trial of Mr. Sutter which is in session now. You looked away, as to not look suspicious, but you still looked from the corner of your eye at the two men. After a few more moments of talking, The salesman walked off with the other man, leaving the horses completely unattended.

You stood for a second in silence, "...Well that was easy."

All three of you all walked over to the pen. You climbed over the fence and then started to untie the horses from it. You told Thor to put the saddles on them, and he quickly did. You took a quick look an made sure everything was on correctly.

"Alright we're good." You said, opening the gate on the fence. You took the leads of both the horses and you all started rushing away from the location.

You made your way farther away from town and stopped when you knew you were out of sight. You took a moment now to actually look at the horses. One was a brown mare with a darker brown mane and the other was a lighter brown stallion with a black mane. The Stallion was a bit taller than the mare. They were both pretty well tempered from what you could see, and seemed like they would be alright to ride. You took the map out and looked at it again. "We need to go north east. The next town over is about... 30 miles from here. If we leave now, we should be able to reach it by sundown. We can rest there for the night and continue in the morning."

"Alright." Thor said. "We should be going then."

"Thor, you take the male horse." You replied. "Loki and I will take the female." After a second of silence, you explained. "Even though they may seem docile they still do damage if they rear back. That male is pure power and I would have a harder time controlling him." Your explanation was... actually a lie. You would be able to easily handle the stallion...  
you really had no clue why you said that...

Thor agreed to your suggestion and then got up onto the male horse. You looked over and saw that Loki was about to get on the female horse.

"Hey, no, no, no." You said. "I'm in front."

"Why do you get to make the decisions?"

"Because I'm a professional. I know what I'm talking about."

"So, you're implying that I know nothing?"

"No. I'm not implying anything." You replied. "Look, We don't have time to argue. It's either that or you ride with Thor."

A few moments pasted before he spoke. Loki sighed. "Fine."

"Great."

You got onto the female horse, and, even though you could tell that Loki didn't particularly agree with riding behind you, He climbed on.

And with that matter settled, you started towards your destination.

* * *

You had thought that you'd make it to the next town before sundown, but it looked like you were going to be a bit late. the terrain of the area changed as you got farther away from the previous town and it became more difficult for the horses to continue walking. Thor's horse was farther ahead of you, but Thor made sure that he didn't get too far from you. It had started to get darker as the sun sank vertically in the sky, getting closer and closer to the horizon. You had been riding for quite a while and you were so tired that you were fighting to keep your eyes open. Loki noticed it when you would occasionally shake your head to try and keep yourself awake.

"You're too exhausted." He said. "You are in no shape to be riding."

"No, No." You replied. "I'm fine... I just need to..." While speaking you couldn't help but yawn, which didn't help your point at all.

"What you need is to switch places with me."

"No, We're almost to the next town... I can... I can rest there." After you said that, your horse mis-stepped and nearly tripped when she stepped on a rock. She didn't fall, but the sudden motion of her stumble surprised you. "...okay, you're right." You may be a bit stubborn, but you weren't stupid. You knew when to admit that you were wrong. You pulled the mare to a stop, and then you got off. Loki moved to the front, while you then climbed back on, sitting behind him. "Keep going, the town isn't too far from here..."

And so your journey continued. 

Because you were just so tired, you ended falling asleep, your head resting on the back of Loki's shoulder. 

You didn't know how long you were asleep, but you must have slept through the rest of ride to the town.

* * *

"[name], Wake up."

When you heard Loki, you jolted awake. "Huh! Huh, what?"

"Shhh!" He shushed you. "Quiet."

You looked around and you noticed that you were in a barn. It looked like it hadn't been used in a while.

"This was the only place that we could find to stay for the night." Thor said.

"It seems to be unoccupied, so we should be alright here." Loki added.

Loki got down off of the mare and you followed shortly after. There were a couple of empty pens in the barn and you put each of the two horses into one, while also giving them some hay. You, Loki and Thor took to sleeping on the hay bales. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it was certainly better then sleeping on the ground.

Even though you were exhausted, you couldn't seem to fall asleep, and the hay poking you in the back certainly wasn't helping. Because of this, you got up and walked outside of the barn. 

It was dark out and the sky was full of stars. You walked and sat down by the barn wall. You stared up at the sky at the various star formations and the full moon which stood out in high contrast with the pitch black darkness of the night. You had always liked looking at the stars. And, now that you were in a place where street lights weren't hindering sight of the sky, you really loved how you could see all of the stars with such clarity. You sat there for a while just gazing at the stars, sometimes even recognizing a few constellations that you knew.

"Isn't it a bit late to be stargazing?" You heard. You looked over and saw that Loki had come out of the barn. 

"I couldn't sleep." You replied to him as you shrugged.

"Heh, same here." Loki came over and sat down on the ground next to you. "Thor's snoring doesn't make for a peaceful rest."

You laughed. "It's certainly more peaceful out here." You looked back at the stars in the sky. 

After a few moments, Loki spoke again. "You really like the stars, don't you?"

"Yeah. The night sky is always so beautiful." You said. "...Especially the sky in Asgard." 

Loki laughed. "Yes, I could tell that you were memorized by it."

You both just sat continued to sit there and look at the stars. Occasionally you'd hear the sounds of the animals around you: the hooting of an owl, the howl of a wolf, the chirping of the crickets, and the gentle blowing of the wind. From out of the corner of your eye you noticed that Loki was looking over at you. You turned your head. "Hehe, what?"

"Nothing." He replied. "I just... never noticed that your eyes are [E/C]... They're nice."

"Oh." You said blushing a bit. "Uh... Thank you... Your eyes are nice too." You smiled at him.

For several moments you just stared at each other, looking into the others eyes. While you fixed your gaze on his vibrant green colored eyes you had some sort of feeling that was indescribable to you. You couldn't quite put a word on what you were feeling, but you knew that it was a good feeling. Yes, definitely a good one. You've felt this before, but never as strongly as you were now. It was strange to you, because usually you have to know people for a while before they give you this feeling. You've only know Loki for a short time and he somehow brought this feeling out of you much quicker then anyone else has ever done.

As you both still stared, you noticed a bright steak of light shoot across the sky. "Look!" You said excitedly as you pointed behind him. Loki turned around. "A shooting star! Quick, make a wish!"

"You spotted the star." Loki said to you. "You are the one who gets the wish."

"But, anyone who sees a falling star can make a wish." You replied. "We both get one."

"No, no. Go ahead. I insist."

You didn't say anything more of the subject. You closed your eyes and thought for a moment about what to wish for. After contemplating it, you decided on what you wanted, and you said the wish in your mind. When you were finished you opened your eyes again. You then thought to yourself "Was that the right wish to make?" Was there even a possibility that your wish would come true? Or did you just waste the wish of something that would never come. The optimistic side of your mind wanted to say that, yes, there was a possibility, but the part of your mind in charge of your logical reasoning said that the chance was slim. You didn't know which side was going to be right, but you sort of hoped that the optimistic side was. You actually really wanted this wish to come true... but you can never guess if it will or not.

"So... what did you wish for?" Loki asked you. 

"If I tell you, then it won't come true." You replied. "How about I just... tell you when it happens."

"Could I make a guess at it?"

"Uh... sure. But I'm not going to say anything even if you guess correctly." You told him. In you head, you sighed, because you knew that he probably wouldn't guess it anyways... your wish was just too far fetched.

"You won't have to." Loki moved closer to you, while bringing one hand up and placing it on your cheek. He brought your face closer to his and then placed a soft kiss upon your lips. 

When you parted, you had a wide smile on your face, and so did Loki. 

"Just from your expression, I'm going to assume that I was correct."

You said before that you weren't going to say anything even if he guessed your wish. You held onto that, but just like Loki had stated, you didn't have to say anything at all. When you went in for another kiss, and your lips met his again... Loki knew for sure that he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are following your hunch that the U.S. Government has a time travel device hidden somewhere, and you journey to look for it begins in Nevada.
> 
> I didn't actually plan to have that last scene in this chapter but I thought, "Hey! what the hell, why not!?"  
> So there. You got to kiss Loki... Twice. 
> 
> (LOL, when I wrote that scene I was legitimately typing with my eyes closed because it was nearly 3:30 AM and I was exhausted.)
> 
> Next chapter will be up in a moment.


	11. That Dreams can Foresee

After you and Loki shared that moment with each other, you both remained outside for a while longer. You sat closer to him, laying your head on his shoulder. That kiss left you with a sense of happiness and you couldn't help but still smile. It seemed to only reinforce the feelings that you've been having. At first you questioned yourself as to why these feeling had risen, for Loki no less, and why such feeling appeared so fast. When you first met him back at the stable the first impression you got of him was much different then what you thought of him now. The vibe that you got from him before was very... mysterious. Granted you still felt a mysterious vibe from his now, it was mysterious in a good way. It was hard for you to explain even to yourself.

"Your wish on the falling star, honestly, was to obtain a kiss from me?" Loki said.

You laughed a bit nervously as you blushed again, "No, not exactly..." You replied. "But it gave me the answer that I was looking for."

"Answer to what?"

"Well... I... I've been having a lot of strong... feelings I guess, and I just wanted to know if maybe you were having the same feelings too." You explained. "I never would have guessed that the stars would work in that way."

"The stars work in mysterious ways." Loki said. "You might wish for one thing and the result could be something you didn't expect. The stars take everything literally you know."

"I guess that makes sense." After you spoke, you yawned, showing just how exhausted you really were. You knew you fell asleep when you were coming into this town, but it seemed that it wasn't enough. 

"You really should try and get some rest." Loki told you.

You sighed. "I guess you're right. We still have a long way to travel before we get to Nevada deserts." You said. You then thought for a moment. Even when you get to the deserts, there is still the chance that the military bases wouldn't even be there. They were a conspiracy in themselves. The government of ths U.S. Easily succeeds in hiding from sight. They're built underground, out of sight of the general public. You were now second guessing yourself on whether you should even continue. Granted, you knew that you had to find a way back to the future and this may be the only way to do so, you felt that finding and infiltrating a military base, surviving the inevitable attacks by the armed guards inside, and then locating and stealing the time travel device, was going to be a near impossible task. The chances that you would actually be able to locate the entrance to the base in the first place was slim to none...

You pushed the negative thoughts out of your mind and forced yourself to remain optimistic. You were going to need to stay positive if you were ever going to fix everything that has gone wrong.

Once you agreed with Loki that you need more rest you both got up from the ground and walked back into the barn. 

Thor was snoring loudly and Loki just shook his head at him. "Try to ignore him."

You laughed quietly. "He sounds like a bear." You went and climbed back up onto the hay bales. You made your way up to a higher pile and laid down there rather then closer to the ground. Loki obviously didn't want to sleep anywhere near Thor because of his obnoxious snoring, so he walked over and laid on the hale bales closer to you. 

"How on earth do you sleep on these things?" Loki said.

"Well, half my life I lived with my dad on his ranch, so I'm used to it I guess..." You replied. You then laughed as you recalled one memory you had of those times. "...I remember that, when I was a kid, I used to hide in the middle of the hay bale piles so I wouldn't have to do any work that day. Then my dad always found me... he seemed to always know exactly where I was even if I hid somewhere else. Sometimes he'd call me lazy for not wanting to work, but he'd always turn it into a joke and make me smile." You were silent for a few moments as you reminisced. You then sighed. "I'm sorry. One simple answer turned into a story..."

"Oh no no, It's alright." Loki replied to you. "Sometimes it's good for the mind to wonder."

"Yeah... You're right."

You and Loki continued talking; mostly about mindless topics really. You were just trying to past the time until one of you feel asleep. You actually had no idea what time it was, but you knew it was dark and it was late. You progressively got more tired and soon your eyes fell closed. You weren't completely asleep. You could still hear and continued to speak to Loki, but exhaustion eventually took its hold on you, pulling you into your own little dream land.

>   
> Usually you don't have dreams... Or, at least you've never had dreams that were so clear and vivid as this one was. It was somewhat of an odd dream as well. You saw Loki, Thor and yourself all walking through a large field of snow. You were all dressed appropriately for the weather of course. It was snowing, and the wind was blowing, which made it feel even colder then it actually was. You could see that the three of you were saying things back and forth to each other, but you didn't know what was being said. You could see what was happening, but couldn't hear it. It was like one of those silent movies. After walking for a few moments you looked ahead of you and noticed something in the distance. You all started towards it, and were in front of it soon enough.
> 
> You were standing in front of what looked to be an entrance to an underground tunnel. 
> 
> Or... 
> 
> The entrance to a secret military base. 
> 
> You all approached the structure and moved towards the large steel door that had the letters NV on it. When you reached to open the door a large shadow fell over you. You froze for a few seconds and then slowly turned around. Your expression changed directly to one that said "oh... shi*." The being who cast the shadow moved towards you...  
> 

That was when you woke up from the dream. 

Your eyes shot open and you were staring at the roof of the barn. It took a few seconds for you to realized that you had dreamt last night. You hardly ever remembered your dreams, when and if you did dream, so it was odd that you could recall everything about the one you had last night. You remembered it all with such clarity that it seemed more like a memory rather than a dream. 

"Hey, Loki." You said. You could hear that Thor was still snoring away like a hibernating bear, and, knowing that it bothered Loki last night, you assumed that it would have woke him up.

"Yes?"

"Do you think... That dreams can foresee the future?"

"...It's possible." He replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because... I think the dream I had last night was trying to tell me something." You explained. You sat up and then got climbed down the hay bales you were on. 

"What exactly did you see?" Loki said to you, as he stood up as well.

"Well, I dreamt that we found... what I think was a military base, which is what we're looking for... But it was in someplace that was cold. There was snow and ice everywhere, and we came to this thing in the middle of the snowfield that looked like an entrance to an underground tunnel. We tried to open the door, but before we could someone caught us... I woke up after that."

"Perhaps it was telling you that the place we're looking for isn't in the deserts like you thought."

"That's what I was thinking. The weird part though is that the door had the letter NV on it." You said. "That means that it is in Nevada, just... somewhere that was cold."

"Then it must be saying that we're on the right track." Loki replied.

"But it was only a dream... How can you trust something that isn't real?"

"Before you met me, did you believe that gods were real?"

You were confused as to why he suddenly changed the subject, but you replied, "Well... um... maybe. I - I don't know. I mean..." You tried to explain, but you just couldn't find the right words to answer his question.

"Well, I am a god." Loki continued as he walked closer to you, "And you trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I do." You said. "It just... I don't want to trust the dream and then drag all of us into something if I don't even know what will happen. That dream might just be my imagination playing tricks on me."

"That could be true, but what other lead do we have?"

You thought for a moment... He was right. The only lead you had was just from your knowledge of the conspiracies and the placement of supposed military bases. You had no reliable information to go off of. You currently were heading towards somewhere that could quite possibly yield no help what-so-ever. With the dream, you at least narrowed down the number of places where the time travel device could be hidden. 

You sighed... "I see your point, but the dream doesn't make sense. Nevada is more of a desert climate than anything. It wouldn't be a place to get much snow..."

"Well, even so, that dream of yours reinforces your hunch that there the device we need is there."

 

While you and Loki continued talking, Thor finally decided to wake up. Both you and Loki had progressively blocked out his obnoxious snoring to a point where it didn't even bother you. You told Thor about your dream and how you knew, almost for a fact, that the time travel device was in Nevada.

Thor listened, but then he had something to say. "But, if in your dream we were caught, does that not mean that we shouldn't go there?"

"Well in theory, we shouldn't," You said, "but the fact that someone didn't want us to go there says that the time travel device could very well be inside."

"Why else would they not want us in there if they weren't hiding something?" Loki added.

"Exactly." You continued. "We need to stay on course to Nevada."

"We're still quite far from there." Thor stated. "How long is it going to take us to get there?"

"Don't worry." You replied. "I think I've got that covered."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meh... This chapter seems boring to me...It feels like nothing actually happened....  
> I'm sorry guys. It one of those weird transitional chapters I guess. Hopefully the next chapter is more interesting...


	12. Calm

>   
> Plan. A simple word with more the one meaning. Plan could mean a sequence of actions one takes in order to accomplish a task, or it could be used as a verb and describe the action of thinking out a way to get around an obstacle.   
> Whichever form one chooses to use, they both will end with the same result; achievement of a goal. A plan can be anything. Anything at all. Large or small; Complex or simple; Intelligent or dumb. From navigating your way around a blocked off road, to simply finding your keys in the morning. You make plans subconsciously without even knowing it.
> 
> And this was true for you now. You had a problem which needed to be solved, so you began to formulate a plan in order to solve it. Your problem actually had many parts, but you took to focusing on small parts of the whole, taking the problem apart piece by piece. And by doing that, you knew just how to handle it.  
> 

* * *

"I have a plan, guys." You said. You, Loki and Thor had left the barn that you slept in, bringing your horses with you, and were now closer to town. This town was not much different from the one you were in previously. The only difference was that this place wasn't near a saw mill. "I just hope that this first step won't take long."

"What is the first step?" Thor asked you.

You started to answer, but before you could, Loki cut you off. "Isn't it obvious? We still have many miles to travel, and certainly these animals won't get us there fast enough. [Name] said before that we have no money to buy train tickets, but if we could sell the animals -"

You finished the explanation, "Then they should bring us enough money to buy the tickets and have some left over."

"Exactly." Loki agreed with you.

"That's makes perfect sense, yes!" Thor replied.

"Now, we just have to convince someone to buy them from us..." You said.

"It shouldn't be all that difficult." Loki replied to you. "It seems that horses are quite in demand around these times."

"That's certainly true."

You put your plan into place and tried to get the townsfolk to buy the animals from you. You thought that it wouldn't be hard, considering that horses were the main form of transportation for the majority of people in these times, but you couldn't have been more wrong. Many people passed by you, and you tried to get the to stop and talk to you, but most of them just kept on walking. The few people who did stop either said that they already had a horse, or weren't interested in buying one.

You started to get really frustrated. This was supposed to be the easy part of your plan! 

Loki and Thor both noticed your aggravation.

"Do not worry." Loki said to you.

"Someone will have to buy the horses, sooner or later." Thor continued.

"Look," Loki continued, pointing to a group of people who were coming your way. "There's some more people. Let's see of we can get them interested."

"Alright." You said taking in a deep breath. As the group of people, two men and two women, got closer, you cleared your throat and then approached them politely. "Greetings. Y'all look like you're in need of some transportation. Could I possibly interest ya in a fine pair of horses?"

One of the women answered you. "Oh! That sounds like-" Before the woman could finish her reply, the man standing next to her, presumably her significant other, shushed her harshly.

That man then spoke to you in a rough voice. "We won't be needin' any horses, thank you."

The group started walking off away from you.

"Uggh... Another rejection." You said.

"Hold on." Loki replied. He put his hands on your shoulders, whispering close to your ear. "I think know how to handle this." 

Loki started walking after the group and then stopped the man that you had talked too. He started speaking to him, but you couldn't hear exactly what he was saying.

After a few minutes you saw the people in the group nod their heads in agreement with Loki, and then they all started walking back towards you. They approached the horses that were behind you. 

You walked over to Loki. "Are they buying them?" You asked.

He laughed quietly before he replied, "Yes. They bought them." He grabbed your hand and slid the money to you.

The men both untied the two horses from the post, and then got on them. The women sat behind them.

"Wonderful doing business with you." Loki said to the group as they rode off.

You looked down at the money in your hand. "Woah, this is more then what we should have gotten." You looked at Loki. "What did you say to them?"

"I told them that the horses were pure-bred's guaranteed to run twice as fast as any other. The men were incredibly gullible. It's funny, really."

"Ohhoho, That was good." You replied. "That was really good!"

* * *

Now that you had some money to your name, you could now begin the next part of the plan.

You were at the train station at the southern end of town. It was buzzing with people coming in and heading out of the state. You walked up to the window and the worker inside greeted you.

"Where ya headin' to?" 

"I want three tickets for the next train to Nevada."

"Alright." The worker turned away for a moment and then turned back, handing you three train tickets. He told you the price and you handed him the amount of money he said, putting the rest of it into your pocket. He glanced down at the time sheet. "Oh, looks like you're just in time. That train started boarding a few minutes ago. You best hurry on now."

With that, the three of you walked to the loading area.

The people who were checking tickets had just yelled "Last call for Nevada!" when you approached them. You showed them the tickets and they let you on the train. Inside, you, Thor and Loki found seats. The train had those seats that were two benches that faced each other. Thor sat on one side, Loki on the other, and you sat down next to Loki. You all were a bit relieved being able to just relax on the train as it drove on to Nevada.

"If the train doesn't have any stops between here and Nevada, we could be there in a few hours." You started to say. "But I'm certain there will be more pickups along the way. We'll probably be there early tomorrow morning."

"What's next in your plan?" Thor asked you.

"Well... I actually haven't thought that far yet." You replied, laughing nervously. "I was just focusing on getting there quicker."

"Well no matter." Loki said. "We'll have time to think during the train ride."

* * *

Like you expected, the train had more stops along its route. At one stop, the operator announced that the train needed to reload on materials and departure was going to be delayed for a few hours. By the time the train got going again it was late at night. Thor had fallen asleep, and again was snoring; not as loud as usual, but still was loud enough for some of the other passengers to quietly complain about the noise.

"Loki..." You said.

"Yes?"

"What are we going to do? I mean... we're heading to Nevada but when we get there-"

"Shh." Loki shushed you, putting one finger to your lips. "We shall worry about that later. Right now you need to relax."

You sighed, and then yawned. "I know. I just really wish that I knew how to fix everything. All of this is just... driving me crazy."

"Hey, give yourself some credit." Loki replied. "You've handled this whole situation in a much more rational way then either Thor or I would if we were in this alone."

"So you're saying that you two are irrational?" You laughed.

"Well... In a way isn't everyone irrational?" He said. "Some are just more capable of overcoming that quality then others."

Laughing again you said, "Let me guess... Thor doesn't have that capability?"

"Haha. That would be correct."

"And you do."

"I'd say that you do as well."

"Ha. I'd call myself highly irrational." You told him. "I mean... I attacked that one scientist and I almost hurt him really badly. If you hadn't stopped me... I probably would have killed him."

"You were acting out of rage." Loki said. "And, in all honesty, if I didn't know of the possibility of traveling back in time, I would have acted the same and only added to the mans injuries."

"Hum... I guess it was rage... or sadness... Just... seeing Sleipnir there... and hearing that heart monitor..."

Before you could continue to mentally recall how you felt as Sleipnir died, Loki said to you, "You really like Sleipnir don't you?"

"... Yeah. Ha, It's kinda funny." You replied. "I always eventually bond with any animal I come across. But with him... It was almost instant. In a weird way he reminded me of the horse I had as a child, being that he was so unique. Seeing him die and knowing that he was being hurt by the very same people who took my horse from my fathers ranch... It... it brought back all of those childhood memories. It was like I was reliving it all over again. I - I loved Sleipnir just as much as I loved my - " You tried to continue speaking, but you stopped and tried to stop the tears that were forming in the corners of your eyes. You put one hand over your eyes, taking in a deep breath. "I'm sorry." You said, your voice cracking a bit. "I'm never usually this sensitive." 

Tears escaped from your eyes. Upon seeing your distress, Loki reached over and pulled you closer to him until your head was laying on his chest. He rubbed your arm softly, trying to calm you down. "Shh... Don't worry... We're going to bring him back... No matter what it takes."

You wrapped your arms around him, hugging him tightly.

You both just sat there, him still stroking your arm with the ever so slightest touch. Ooooh... His touch... it was so gentle, but yet it seemed that just his touch was enough to calm you. There was something about it that made you feel better, even if you were feeling such sadness. And it wasn't just right now that you felt this way. Whenever you felt his touch - whether it be from when he grabbed your hand and stopped you from attacking that man at the lab, or to when he put his hand to your face and kissed you - It made your mood shift, and you felt a sort of spark that made you forget why you were feeling sad in the first place. It was strange to you how just his touch could affect you so...

"Thank you... I really appreciate your kindness, Loki."

"...Not a problem." He replied to you.

"You know, Loki... I..." You hesitated to finish your sentence, but something within you made you continue. "I... I really like you." You said. 

You heard Loki laugh quietly before he replied. "I like you too, [name]."

You felt him kiss the top of your head, which put a small smile on your face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS!!! I'm sorry... I suck at romance-y crap... I wanted to show you and Loki's growing feelings for each other but I fail...
> 
> UUGH.... Guys, I also wrote this at 2AM... I was exhausted and sleep deprived so this is probably riddled with spelling errors. Point them out to me please, so I can fix them... thanks.
> 
> Also... I promise. Ya'll are going to get out of the 1800's soon... I'm getting tired of screwing up history and acting like I know what I'm talking about... lol.
> 
> Meh... Good night, everyone.


	13. Wanted Dead

You didn't know how much time had passed, because you seemed to have lost count of the hours in the day throughout this whole experience and your mental clock was confused and offered no help. You woke up to the sound of the voices of the other train passengers who were talking quietly to each other. Your eyes fluttered open, but were still half closed because you hadn't gotten enough sleep and tiredness still lingered. You saw that Thor was still asleep in the seat across from you. Surprisingly, he wasn't snoring this time. You then realized that your head was still laying on Loki's chest. You could feel it rising and falling as he breathed. You concluded that you must have drifted off while you were talking to him last night. 

Being that you neither Loki or Thor were awake, you felt the need to get some more sleep, and you shut your eyes again. You must have moved around while you were sleeping, because you were in sort of an uncomfortable position. You moved slightly so you were not in that awkward position anymore.

"You awake, [name]?" You heard Loki whisper quietly to you.

 _"Oh, so he is awake."_ You thought to yourself. You then moved your head and looked up at him. "Yeah." You glanced out of the train window, seeing that the sky was just starting to lighten up, the darkness turning to various shades of blue and orange, and thin clouds scattered throughout the morning hue. "Morning."

"Good morning." Loki replied to you. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah... I'm still kind of tired though."

"Hmm, I would have assumed so." He said. "You looked like you were having a nightmare last night."

"I did?" You questioned. You didn't recall have any sort of dream while you slept, so Loki's statement caught you by surprise.

"Yes, you were mumbling and moving around. I heard you making frightened noises. What were you seeing?"

"I... I don't know... I usually don't remember my dreams." You told him.

"Really? That's sort of strange." He said. 

"It's kind of sad too. When I wake up I have that feeling that I had a really awesome dream, but I can't remember anything about it." You answered him. "It's like, as soon as my eyes open, the dream just vanishes out of my mind."

"Oh, yes, I know what you mean." Loki responded. "But... In a way isn't it a good thing? That way you won't have to remember any nightmares."

You thought about this for a moment. "Heh... Yeah... I guess it is."

You and Loki continued talking. Mostly about mindless topics, anything to keep your minds off of the fact that you were stuck in the past, and honestly not knowing if your theory of how to get back was even going to work. The more that you thought about how bad of a situation you were in right now, the more you placed the blame on yourself. Even though Loki already told you that it wasn't you who was to blame, a part of your mind still yelled at you for letting those scientists get to Sliepnir in the first place. If they had never gotten to him, Loki would have retrieved him and went on his way. Sliepnir wouldn't have been killed... You three wouldn't have had to go back in time... You wouldn't have ended up in the wrong time period... You wouldn't have ran into the many problems that you have encountered while you were here... None of this would have happened if you just had stopped those white lab coat wearing scientists...

But... then you began thinking into it further... It's also true that if Sliepnir wasn't taken... You would have never actually gotten to know Loki. If he came and just took Sliepnir back, he would have simply returned to Asgard and you would have never had a second thought about him. You would have never knew him... 

You liked Loki. You already admitted that. When you came to the conclusion that Sliepnirs capture was the reason why you two were with each other right now, you felt confused. You didn't know whether to consider Sliepnir's death as a good thing or a bad thing. Of course it was a bad thing no matter what way you looked at. The death of any living being is never a happy occasion, but it had tiny hints of good. Though it made you feel like a bad person to even think of an animals death to be a good thing, you almost couldn't help but to do so. You really liked Loki, and Sleipnir was the reason why you two were...

Well... 

"Loki..." You said quietly.

"Yes?"

"Um... uh" You started awkwardly. "C - Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Okay. Uh... Well," You tried to ask your question, but you had trouble finding the correct words. You knew what you wanted to say, but it was as if your mind turned to mush and wouldn't let you utter even one syllable. You stopped for a second, and then attempted to speak again. "Okay, Just out of curiosity... Would you say that... you and I are..."

"Involved?" Loki finished your question for you.

"... Ye - Yeah." You replied, feeling a blush creep its way onto your cheeks. You looked away from him, embarrassed by how red your face was. 

"Hey," Loki said to you, making you face him again. "you don't have to act so shy. The answer would be yes, I do consider you and I to be involved."

"I'm glad to hear that." You said with a smile. "... Um... Do you think we should... tell Thor? He seems like he's been pretty oblivious."

Loki looked over to Thor, still sleeping soundly; He must be a heavy sleeper. Loki laughed before he spoke and then looked at you again. "Eheheh, I have a better idea... How about we don't tell him... And wait to see how long it takes him to figure it out?"

"You'd really leave him in the dark like that?"

"It's just a bit of fun, really." He replied, cracking a devious grin.

"Humm... Secretive... I Like it." You agreed.

* * *

It was only a while later that Thor finally woke up. The three of you started talking about what you were going to do when you got off of the train in Nevada.

"I know one thing; This train is going to drop off near the mountains." You stated. "That's a good thing."

"How is that?" Thor asked you.

"Well, I've had time to think, and I might know where we need to go." You explained. "In my dream we were walking through a snow field. The only places that would have snow this time of year would be up in the mountain peaks."

"Sounds like we're going on a hiking trip." Loki stated.

"And even more specifically, the second highest peak. It's second in height due to it's top being almost totally flat." You added. "Which makes it the perfect place to hide a-"

The sound of a loud yell cut you off mid sentence. Someone obviously wasn't very happy because the shout sounded like it carried a sense of intense anger and frustration. It was a harsh, somewhat creepy, male voice that seemed very rough. Passengers on the train started quietly whispering to themselves, an air of confusion filling the whole train car. 

"Who is -" Thor started to speak, but you quickly shushed him and listened.

"I know you're on this train!" You heard the man say. The passengers got quiet as the man started moving down through the aisle looking at each one of them with a sharp glare. "I'm here to talk about your friend mr. Marshall." He was talking so loudly that you were pretty sure the people in the next train car could probably hear him. His words carried and entered the ears of anyone within range. "He told me a lot about you three, and you have something that belongs to me!"

'Wait a minute...' You thought to yourself. At that statement you started to realize... "Guys... I think he's talking about us." You whispered. You peeked out into the aisle just enough to get a quick look at this strange man. And one look was all it took for you to begin almost panicking. You gasped and then retreated back into your seat. 

"It's Sutter." You informed Loki and Thor.

"I thought he was in police custody?" Loki replied.

"Didn't he get put on trial for James's murder?" Thor added.

"He must have escaped..." You replied.

"What does he want with us?" Thor asked. "What do we have?"

"I don't know." You said, trying to wrap your head around why Sutter would be pursuing you. Looking into the aisle again, you saw him coming closer. He hadn't noticed you yet, but you knew that if you stayed here then he would eventually find you. "Guys... We need to get out of here. Now!"

Sutter was still talking to the passengers, almost interrogating them into spilling any information they had, but his efforts yielded little results due to the fact that you were keeping a relatively low profile and the added fact that news doesn't travel as fast back in the 1800's. You saw Sutter turn his back and face the passengers.

He laughed before he spoke, "Come on... Are y'all too stupid to speak?!" He said, obviously frustrated. "Are ya?!"

While Sutter was distracted and ranting on to the passengers, you quickly but quietly got out of your seat and started sneaking down the aisle towards the door in the front. You reached the door, and opened it, walking into the next train car that it was connected to. Once all three of you were in, you shut the door. You were now in another passenger car, but this one didn't have nearly as many people as the previous one did. 

"I get the feeling that this Sutter character is smarter then he seems." Loki stated.

"Yes..." You replied, "Too smart. Even if Sutter escaped from the police he would have been so far behind us that he shouldn't have known where we went. I'm questioning how he even tracked us here."

"Still, why is he chasing us in the first place?" Said Thor.

"All I know," You began. "is that he is a murderer. He killed James and we could very well be next."

"How are we going to get away from him?" Loki said. "He obviously knows that we're here."

"We just have to stay out of his sight." You replied. "If we keep moving, he won't be able to find us." You went over to a window, seeing the lovely scenery rush by. "I can't tell exactly where we are, but we should be close to our destination."

"That's true, but we're limited to where we can go." Loki continued. "We are on a train after all."

"I know... But we have to try."

"If he does find us, I'm sure that Loki and I could easily take him if he tries anything." Thor said.

"No, we have to try and avoid him." You stated. "I'm not questioning your fighting abilities, but we can't risk changing any more of the past. We've already changed too much. we just wait for our cue to run."

You three took to avoid Sutter at any and all costs. You kept moving from train car to train car; sometimes getting longer to rest before Sutter came in and continued his search, and then other times not even getting to catch your breath before you had to move again. Sutter wasn't backing down in his mission to find the three of you, and you expected nothing less. 

The three of you came to a luggage car. It was filled with suit cases, and bags that were loaded here by the passengers. There was even a few animal cages with various types of birds inside. You all knew that you would be able to stay in this car. Sutter was took smart. This is exactly the place he'd expect you all to hid. 

You walked through the luggage car, having to step over a few suitcases, and made your way to the door on the other side. When you tried to open the door, you quickly realized that the door was locked from the other side.

And as if matter couldn't get any worse... Moments later, Sutter comes busting through the other door. You all looked towards him.

"You three were harder to find then I thought." He said. "But now you're trapped."

None of you said a word. You took notice of the shiny metal object that was in the holster attached to Sutter's belt. You and Loki looked at each other, and then you moved your eyes, pointing to the weapon. Without even speaking a word, Loki understood what you were thinking.

"Now, Let's make this easy... Hand over what belongs to me... and I won't kill you." His hand was on his gun holster, his fingers wrapping around the handle of the weapon.

Again, you all said nothing. 

Which only enraged Sutter even more.

"Ha. Choosin' the hard way eh?" He said, pulling the weapon out, and pointing it at the three of you. "Fine, I'm perfectly content with killin' ya to get what I need."

Loki Slowly leaned closer to you, whispering to you, while Sutter tightened his fingers around the trigger. "I think this is our cue to run..."

A few seconds passed and then all three of you quickly ran forward, and then ducked down, making Sutter's gunshot miss you. 

Thor moved quickly and tackled Sutter, all the while knocking the gun out of his hand. Sutter was obviously hurt from the sudden attack and fall to the floor, and even after Thor stood up he stayed there for a moment. He wasn't that easily beaten though and got back up. From behind, Loki grabbed a suit case from the floor, and then wacked Sutter in the back of the head, knocking him down again. He dropped the suitcase on top of the man, and then all three of you ran out the other door while he was down. You knew that you had to get off of the train. You just had to figure out how. 

And fast.

Sutter's resilience showed again when he started chasing you through the passenger cars. 

He shot at you three with his gun a few more times, which scared all of the riders, and made women and children start to scream in terror. 

In your mind, you knew you really only had one choice.

You had to jump.

You needed to get off the train, and the only way to do that was to jump.

You told this to Loki and Thor, and you all then went to the side door of the train car you were in, and pulled it open. The ground was rushing by and you could feel the air roaring past the train with the speed at which it was going. Even though this was your idea, seeing the actual speed of the train and rocky surface of the ground beneath you, you started to get scared. Sutter was still pursuing you, and Thor led you, being the first to jump. Loki must have noticed that you were afraid, so he grabbed your hand and then you both jumped from the train, just as Sutter was about to attack you. 

You, Loki and Thor all went tumbling to the ground, rolling to try and avoid any injury. You all came to a rest in a large patch of grass. Being safely outside of the train, you took this moment to regain yourselves and catch your breath. for many moments none of you said anything, and you could only hear each others heavy breathing.

"Well... That didn't go exactly as I thought it would." Loki said.

"But at least Sutter isn't chasing us anymore." Thor added, trying to lighten things us.

"Guys..." You said, sitting up in the grass. "I don't think that is the last we're going to see of him..."

"Neither do I." Loki agreed with you. "Something tells me that he's going to cause more problems for us."

"More then you know." You told him. "Did either of you see what was around his wrist?"

"No." Thor answered you.

"I was more paying attention to his movements so we didn't get shot." Loki continued, in almost a sarcastic tone.

"He has a watch. A Self winding watch" You started... "Those type of watches weren't even invented until the end of this century." You couldn't even believe this. You had a hard time comprehending it all. "And if you looked closely at his belt there was another watch-like object attached to the opposite side of his gun." You grabbed your wrist and took off the time travel device, holding it up in front of your face, the light of the sun glinting off the shiny surface. "It looks exactly like this."

Loki caught on to what you were saying, and he sat up, looking at you. "He has the device that sends us home."


	14. Snowfall

You felt like you should have seen this coming.

When you first found out that Sutter murdered James you should have noticed that this was not how the history books described him. This was far from what he was portrayed as. It may have been that the books were totally wrong about him, but to you, it seemed more convincing that Sutter somehow obtained time travel technology. He acquired that half of the time travel device; how exactly he got it was all the unknown to you. If you Loki and Thor had the half that goes back in time... That means that Sutter has the one that goes forward. One might think; if he has the half that goes forward wouldn't that mean that he is from even farther in the past? This wasn't necessarily true. He has a self winding wristwatch, meaning that he is from at least 50 years in the future. The time device he had, looked exactly like yours. You began to think What if, at one point in time, the two devices were actually together as one? One side to go forward, one to go back. You still had unanswered questions... and you couldn't help but feel like the was a part of the story that you didn't know.

The three of you had surveyed your surroundings and you quickly noticed that the mountains along western Nevada weren't too far away. "I guess we jumped at a good time." you thought. You all started to come up with a plan. A much more thought through plan. "We can follow the train tracks to the nearest town."

* * *

After a while of walking, you all arrived at the town. This one was much larger then any of the previous ones you had seen. Nearly three times as big. The people still looked the same, but there seemed to be a different... busier atmosphere here. Knowing that Sutter was still on that train and was probably in this town looking for you at this very moment, you took care to hide yourselves from view as much as you could. 

Well...

You tried to anyway.

"Hey! Pssst!" You heard a voice say from behind you. You all turned around and noticed a man peaking out from an alleyway. "Over here!" He waved you over to him, trying to get you three to come.

You stayed put, and turned around. You were not about to get into even more problems by associating yourself with this guy who you didn't even trust. The three of you all walked away, but moments later you saw someone run past you, and then stop right in front you, almost causing you to run into them.

"Wait, Please!" The man from the alley said to you. He was a younger man, if you had to guess, he looked to be about 19 or 20. "I know why you three are here. I can help you!"

You raised an eyebrow at him. "...Really... And how is that?" You questioned.

"You're being perused by John Sutter aren't you?" He said.

"...Yeah, what's it to you?" 

The man eyes looked to the left and then to the right, as if he was expecting Sutter to be within earshot. "I can help you get the time travel device from him."

"You know about it?" Loki said.

"Yes, no please, come. We cannot talk out here in the open."

Deciding to trust this young man, the three of you followed him as he led you into a building very close to the edge of town. Once inside, the man closed all the windows and doors, making sure that they were blocked off so nobody could get in.

"How did you know that Sutter had a device for traveling through time?" Thor asked the young man.

"He told me himself." He answered.

"Who are you?" You asked. "Why would he tell you?"

"My name is Alex. Sutter has told me much more any of you know."

"Well are you just gonna sit there or are you gonna tell us then?" Loki said.

"Certainly." Alex replied.

* * *

>   
>  Time travel.
> 
> If the human race had access to it, what would they do?
> 
> If technology finally advanced far enough to allow someone to travel through time and relive the events of the past or see into the future, what would happen? What would someone do if they had the chance to go backwards in time to any point in history? Time is a fragile thing. If humans learned how to manipulate it, how would it affect them? 
> 
> These are only some of the questions that John Sutter was trying to answer.
> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
> "What's the current Lab report?" A middle-aged man with short brown hair said as he approached another man who was sitting at a work desk in the middle of a large science laboratory. The man worn a long white lab coat and looked through a microscope, examining a piece of metal some device that had tiny inner wires and circuit panels.
> 
> "There has been a development, Mr. Sutter." The scientist says, without looking up from his work. "The device's inner circuits are functioning at 100% capacity."
> 
> "Grand." Sutter replied, obviously pleased. "We're getting closer and closer by the day to its completion."
> 
> "Closer than you think, sir. If all the calculations are correct, the only thing it needs is a source of power that can withstand the punishment of its functions."
> 
> "Have you figured out what to power it with?"
> 
> "For the right side, we've been able to fashion an element that can do the job, but... for the other side-."
> 
> "Other side?" Sutter said questioningly. "Why does it need two power sources?"
> 
> "Each side functions independently and therefore must have its own source of power." The scientist explained. "Because of the different uses of each side, the left will need more power to complete its task."
> 
> "So what does the left need?"
> 
> "The other scientists and I have gone over some options," The man said, finally raising his head away from the microscope. He grabbed the device that he was looking at from the panel and held it up in front of Sutter. It was a small object, that resembled two watches. It was made of two separate metal bands and on top of each band, there were two circular dials surrounding an inner motherboard. "and we've come to the conclusion that the only thing that can do so, would be a certain rare gemstone." He pointed to the center of the dials, indicating that the gem would sit directly on top of the mechanisms.
> 
> "We have a whole collection of gemstones in the storage room." Sutter replied.
> 
> "Sir, this stone is incredibly rare, even more so than red diamonds." The scientist told him. "I'm afraid that we do not have it."
> 
> "What stone do you need?"
> 
> "It's called Crystalite. Blue Crystalite to be more specific."
> 
> "And are you sure that this stone is the only option?" Sutter questioned.
> 
> The scientist sighed before he replied, "Yes, sir. Crystalite has a special quality that allows it to store energy within itself. Inside the stone, a process occurs which converts that energy into a force that can be tapped into and focused into a concentrated burst that, quite literally, can tear the fabric of time."
> 
> "Fine then." Sutter said. "I shall find you this Crystalite. While I'm gone I want all of you to finalize the device."
> 
> "Yes, sir. Any further requests?"
> 
> "Yeah, Paint it a nice chrome colour why don't ya?"
> 
> Scientists worked diligently to put the last touches on they're device. Many of them spoke of how they were so uncontrollably happy to have actually accomplished a task where many people before them had failed. It was almost unbelievable to them that they had achieved a goal that people have been attempting for ages. Where hundreds before them were unsuccessful, they had accomplished the impossible.
> 
> Sutter returned to the lab a few hours after he left. 
> 
> The scientist he talked to before looked over to him and honestly looked surprised. "... You're back so soon?"
> 
> "Yes." Sutter replied. He reach into his coat pocket and pulled out a bright gemstone, a brilliant blue in colour. "Here is your Crystalite." Sutter handed the stone to the scientist who looked down at it in his hands, almost in awe.
> 
> "H - How did you find one of these?!" 
> 
> "I have sources." 
> 
> The scientist was still staring at the gemstone, almost mesmerized by the shear size of it. It was almost bigger than his hand. He had only ever seen Crystalite in small fragments; never as big as this. "Well... Great. Now we can move on. We will have to cut the stone down though." 
> 
> "Do as you must." Sutter replied to the scientist. "Just finish the job."
> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
> "There," The young scientist said as he lifted a smaller fragment of the blue crystalite in front of his face. The stone had been cut to the specific dimensions needed for the device, and polished to bring out its natural shine. "Would you like to do the honors?"
> 
> "Certainly." Sutter replied, a somewhat questionable smile forming on his face. He took the stone from the scientists hands and walked over to the device, which to his delight was spray painted a very shiny chrome. The center of the right side had a sample of whatever element the scientists had used to power it, and the substance seemed to give off a slight red light. He slipped both bands of the device over his arm, staring for a second at the beautiful creation. He carefully placed the blue crystalite into the center of the left dials, and almost in the same instant, the stone began to glow a vibrant cyan. 
> 
> "That is the energy of the crystalite." The scientist said. "Such power contained within one small specimen."
> 
> "We have the power sources." Sutter began, as he turned around, facing away from the scientist and running his fingers over the device on his arm. "When is the soonest it will be in functioning order?"
> 
> "Well, in it's current state it will work, but we haven't tested the actual level of power that the device can produce. We will need to do some confined test runs before we even think about putting it to use.."
> 
> "No... No test runs..." Sutter laughed, He turned around and looked at the scientist again. He had a devious, almost evil, expression on his face, as he stared the scientist down. "Your work here is done." Sutter began toying with the dials on the device. "You've been so very helpful to me... Heheh."
> 
> "Wha! What are you doing, John!?" The scientist said, automatically getting terrified.
> 
> "Rewriting history." He replied. Before the scientist could do anything else, Sutter pushed the center of the right side. A field of energy was emitted from the device, surrounding Sutter. Seconds later, the device glowed brightly, nearly blinding the scientist, and then the light quickly receded then continued to release a burst of energy that sent the scientist flying backwards.
> 
> The other scientist swiftly rushed to his aid, asking him what happened.
> 
> "He used us..." He replied to them. 
> 
> "The time travel device is gone!" One of the other scientists said.
> 
> "John... he took it..."
> 
> One of the scientists rushed over to the computer system and brought up the program that they installed to track the usage of the device.
> 
> "He's gone back..."  
> 

* * *

"Alright Imma make a long story short," Alex said. "Sutter is actually from far into the future. He was head of this whole labratory operation that was in charge of researching ways to make time travel possible. Once his team created it, he stole the device from them, deceived them and traveled back in time to the 1840's. He went back to a year or so before the California gold rush. He established himself in California, raised the saw mill, and hired workers with the false promises of wealth and was actually using them to find clues that would lead him to the gold. James Marshal... Sutter saw him as a threat. He was smart, and it seemed like he was unraveling Sutter's plan. Before Sutter even knew it, James caught on and used the clues that had been gathered to find the gold himself, preventing John from continuing his plan."

"Sutter went back to get rich." You said. "He planned to take the gold back to the future and sell it so he could make a fortune."

"Yes," Alex replied. "When Marshal found the gold, Sutter was infuriated. He wasn't about to let Marshall tell the others and let them take all of his gold. So Sutter made use of his time travel device again. He went back, but this time we accidentally went too far. It was about 5 years before the gold discovery. Sutter had planned on waiting, making sure that history wouldn't repeat itself. He kept his time travel device locked up, hoping to keep it safe, but a lock wasn't enough..."

"What do you mean it wasn't enough?" You asked.

"The lock was enough to keep any human from getting at it..." Alex told you, adding extra emphasis on the word 'human'. "But something attacked him that was... inhuman." His voice lowered. "He described the person to me as, an older man in royal armor carrying a tall, golden staff. Sutter said to me that this man unlike any he had ever encountered. The man forcibly tried to take the device from Sutter. During the struggle Sutter fought back, but it ended in the device breaking in two. The older man took the half he had and, as if by magic, disappeared into thin air. Sutter had the half of the device that goes forward, but during the fight, the blue crystalite was broken, leaving him stranded here."

"Wait a minute..." You said. "Older man... royal armour... Disappeared by magic..." You looked towards Loki who seemed to have already figured it out.

"Odin was the one who tried to steal it." He said.

You looked at the device on your wrist, and then back up at Alex. "Sutter wants ours so he can reforge the device into one again."

"Yes, but he also doesn't want you to get in the way." Alex told you. "He knows that the blue crystalite specimens are located at the underground military base here in Nevada, and, I guessing that you guys figured that out. Sutter needs the crystalite to fix his half, but needs yours to follow through with his plan to get all the gold."

"And how do you know all of this?" You asked.

"After Sutter had that encounter with the older man, he kept the device by his side at all times, and focused solely on finding a way out of his mess. He was now stuck in the past, just as you are now. He didn't trust anyone, but he started growing depressed, you could say. He was stuck here. Alone in a time period where he had no friends, no family, and no means of communication with them at all. He isolated himself quite often and I think that being so alone for so long broke him and he started talking to me. He didn't let me in on much at first, but he slowly told me more and more of his story as long as I swore that I wouldn't tell anyone."

"But, you're telling us now." Thor stated.

"I fear that greed and power have gone to his head." Alex replied. "I heard about him murdering Mr. Marshall... That's when I knew something needed to be done. I found out that he was in pursuit of a group of people..."

"And you knew that we had the other half of the device." Loki said.

"Correct."

"So, how exactly can we stop him?" You asked. "We are trying to return to the future, so we need his half of the device."

"You do, yes, but first you need to obtain the blue crystalite which is being held at the mountain military base." Alex said. "Then you can steal Sutter's device and end his plans for good."

"You were right," Loki said to you, "We're headed to the mountains."

"It gets pretty cold up there this time of year," Alex interrupted. "So please, allow me to provide you with some proper winter wear."

* * *

"Come on guys." You said. "We need to keep going."

Damn this place was cold. Even though you all had on heavy coats, hats, scarves and fur lined boots, all given to you by Alex, the frosty air still set chills though your body, and the slight wind only made it feel colder. You could see your breath whenever your breathed. The field of snow you were walking through was just like what you saw in your dream; a large, monotonous plane of white flakes. They piled up in places to almost two feet in height.

The three of you stood close together, you in the middle of Loki and Thor, and continued walking. The information that you obtained from Alex told you that the entrance of the base shouldn't be too far. Just across this field he said. As you all walked, you felt a snowflake fall on the tip of your nose. You looked up at the sky and saw more snowflakes starting to come down from the clouds. Soon enough, it started snowing. 

Loki felt a snowflake fall to his face, and... It must have surprised him for some reason because he stopped walking altogether. You turned and looked back at him, when you noticed that he wasn't next to you. He stood there for a moment, not saying anything, and then he took his hand out of his coat pocket, holding it out in front of him. He watched the snowflakes fall into the palm of his hand and slowly melt back into their liquid state. He turned his hand over, looking at the back of it. 

You walked over to him, "Are... you okay, Loki?"

His eyes flashed to you, as if he had just overcame a moment of spacing out, being in his own world for a moments time. "Uh... Yes." He replied. "I - I'm fine."

You waited a moment. "...Okay." You turned around again, staring to walk forward, thinking that Loki was following behind you. You looked forward, noticing that Thor was still standing ahead of you. He turned his back, looking to see how much longer you'd have to keep walking to get through the field. A moment passed and you saw something out of the corner of your eye; you looked and saw a snowball fly at Thor and hit him right in the back of his head. 

Thor quickly turned around, while wiping the snow out of his hair. You looked over your shoulder and saw Loki with one of those fake "I'm innocent" looks. You laughed.

For a few moments, nothing happened, but then out of nowhere the three of you broke into an all out snowball fight.

You threw snowballs at Thor, hitting him in his face and side of his head. Thor threw snowballs at Loki, trying to get back at him for making the first shot. He landed a few hits, but Loki then countered and hit Thor twice in a row.

The three of you were pelting each other with snow, not even caring about the task at hand anymore. It seemed like all of you had completely forgotten that you were in the 1800's and were being chased by a murderer. It was a nice change in things. Rather than being worried and focused on the worst of the situation, you all took this one moment to act like nothing was wrong. You all let yourselves revert back to acting like little children who just found out that school was canceled because of the snow. 

You got hit by a snowball that Thor had threw, and you wiped the snow off of your face. You bent down and made another snowball in your hands. You stood up, but before you could throw the snowball, you suddenly felt another snowball hit you in the left side of your face. It threw off your balance, and you fell down into the snow beneath you.

"Are you alright, [name]?" You heard Loki say. "I didn't mean too hurt you."

You just laid there in the snow for a second, trying to keep a straight face. Then, you quickly sat up and grabbed Loki by his jacket and pulled his down into the snow, making him fall face-first. He rolled over on to his back, clearing his face of the snow

You both just laid the for a few moments. And then you both burst out into hysterical laughter.

* * *

After the snowball fight you noticed that it was starting to grow darker outside. You knew that you couldn't be walking around out her at night, so you three took shelter in a cave for the night. You had Thor gather some wood from a nearby tree, and you used a book of matches that Alex gave you to start a fire so you could keep yourselves warm.

The ground of the cave wasn't very comfortable to sleep on but you were the first to fall asleep, using your coat as a blanket. 

_  
"Are you awake, brother?" Thor said quietly._

_"Yes." Loki replied._

_"Was it my imagination, or did you seem really... overjoyed during that snowball fight?"_

_Thor question caught the God of mischief off guard, and for a second he didn't reply. "... It was your imagination."_

_"Nice try, Loki." Thor responded. "I can tell when you are lying."_

_"It's the truth, Thor." Loki said. "You know that I've always hated snow."_

_"That was not hatred I saw in you."_

_Loki just starred into the fire, watching the flames dance as they burned the logs. The crackling of the wood was the only sound that could be heard. Loki didn't want to talk about the subject. To himself, yes, he admitted that he actually enjoyed that snowball fight. He couldn't remember the last time that he genuinely felt that... cheerful. But he certainly didn't want Thor to know that._

_"Come on, Loki, I haven't seen you smile like that since we were children."_

_Not looking away from the flames, Loki sighed, "... Alright... I guess I was a bit joyous."_

_"Why the sudden mood change?"_

_Loki sighed again. He expected nothing less of Thor's curiosity. "...Let me ask you something, Thor... Have you ever felt so... free?"_

_"Free of what?"_

_"Free of... yourself. Of the qualities that define you."_

_"I'm not sure what you're getting at, Brother."_

_"The snow, Thor. Being out in the snowfield, and actually being able to touch the snow without... the other side of me coming out..." Loki tone softened and he was talking quietly as if he was only speaking to himself. "Without seeing my skin turn blue or feel my eyes burn as they go red... There are no words to describe how happy that made me feel."  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you feel the Loki feels yet?  
> Because him and Thor are on Midgard and it's in the past, they don't have their powers. They have both been reverted to being just mortals. That means that Loki's Jotun half is non-existent!
> 
> I tried to do my very best at explaining how Sutter got the time travel device, and why he wants you dead. Then I had to explain how Odin obtained it... Basically Odin stole the Time travel technology. Midgardians invented it, and Odin stole it. 
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT!  
> I live off of your opinions okay? They are what keep me alive.
> 
> Also, I understand that the way this chapter is told in flashback is a bit confusing. Allow me to explain a bit better.
> 
> There is quite a bit of time travel involved.
> 
> Basically, John Sutter, who I'm portraying as the bad guy, is actually from the very distant future, when technology on earth made it possible for time travel to exist. Sutter used time travel to go back to the 1800's, so he could try to claim the gold from the gold rush, return to the future, and sell it to make a fortune. 
> 
> But his plan didn't go as he wanted (James Marshal found the gold before Sutter did, and that started the Gold rush), and Sutter had to try again. (Going back in time again to prevent history from repeating itself.) That's when his time travel watch was broken and the half that goes into the future was stolen by Odin.
> 
> ...I realize now that this is actually more elaborate then I imagine it was... Sorry for the confusion! I hope this helps you possibly understand it better!


	15. The Return

The next morning, your eyes snapped open when you woke up from another nightmare. You knew that you had some sort of bad dream last night, but, just like many times before, as soon as you opened your eyes all recollection of the dream left you. You sat up, pushing yourself off of the cold cave floor, and wrapping your jacket around yourself. It was only then did you notice that Thor was already awake.

"Good morning." He said to you. 

You returned the greeting, glancing around the cave and seeing that Loki was still sleeping. You smiled and laughed quietly, thinking to yourself that he looked cute in his sleep. 

You shivered when a strong gust of cold air suddenly came into the cave. The winds were blowing in the opposite direction then they were before, sending the frigid air straight at the three of you. 

"Do you want me to go get more firewood?" Thor asked you.

"Yeah. That'd probably be a good idea." You replied. With that, Thor got up and put on his jacket. He then headed out of the cave to get more wood, leaving you alone with the sleeping god of mischief. 

As you sat there, you could help but to start thinking about that snowball fight that you all had yesterday. It seemed that the few moments of snow throwing, really made all three of you feel much more happy and optimistic. During that snowball fight you left all fear behind and choose to forget about the highly unpredictable circumstances of your current situation. You stopped worrying about what was going to happen next. You left the fact that you were being pursued by a murderer unsaid. You didn't care that you were stuck in 1848. Nothing mattered in that moment. It was strange to you how something as simple as a snowball fight had such an effect of all of you in different ways. 

For you, it made you feel less concerned. You sort of... lifted your spirit, you could say. Not everything that has happened has necessarily been a bad thing. It is true that a large majority of this whole experience hasn't been on the good side, but even still, how many people did you know that can say, "I've lived through the gold rush. I've personally spoken to James Marshall. I've seen the real John Sutter." Even though nobody would believe you if you told them those things, you were the only one on earth who actually knew exactly what happened here. Sure, you might have had some influence on how the events of history played out, but you still saw history being made. And that was a good thing. It gave you a whole new perspective of what happened here and you will always look at it with a different eye.

You thought then about Loki, and how he seemed much more... cheerful after that snowball fight. Perhaps cheerful wasn't the correct word, but it was like that snowball fight affected him much more than you or Thor. And it was weird; by the way he didn't approve of walking though the snowfields in the first place, he almost seemed like he hated snow or the cold altogether. When it started snowing and he watched the snowflakes fall into his hand, the look on his face almost looked surprised for some reason. Then, the next thing you know, Loki's the one starting the snowball fight. There was such a drastic change between his aforementioned hate for the snow to his sudden desire to throw it at Thor, you couldn't even figure it out. No matter how hard you tried to reason why there was such a sudden change in emotion, you couldn't come up with a cause.

While you were thinking, you didn't notice that you had been staring at Loki the whole time. When you finally did realize this, you looked away from him.

"Heh heh." You heard him laugh.

"You're awake?" You said.

"I've been awake. I just wanted to wait until Thor was gone." He replied, opening his eyes and sitting up.

"Haha." You replied. After a moment or two of silence you then asked him, "Did you sleep well?"

"Surprisingly, yes."

"Surprising?" 

"I usually don't get much restful sleep."

"What, are you an insomniac?" You said jokingly

"Heh Heh, no. I'm just more of a night owl." Before you could reply to his previous statement another gust of wind blew into the cave, making you shiver again. "The mountain wind sure is cold, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." You replied. You then looked around the cave for a second and spotted the book of matches you used before. You reached over and grabbed the matches then looked at the remaining wood you had. It wasn't much, but it would be something to keep you both warm. You got up, and then moved over to the pile of wood. You took a match out and struck it then tossing it down into the logs. It took a minute or two, but the wood soon started to ignite, and a small fire started within them. You sat down next to the fire. "Huh... it's something."

Loki came over and sat down next to you. "Thor should be back soon with more wood." He said to you.

"I sure hope he's alright out there." You said, glancing out towards the entrance of the cave. You could see the snow from the ground being blow up into the air because of the strong winds. 

"Oh, believe me, he'll be just fine." Loki answered you.

You took your hands out of your jacket pockets and put them near the fire. The warmth coming off the flames felt nice.

* * *

For a while, you and Loki just sat there enjoying the warmth of the fire. It was pretty silent between you two aside from the wind making howling noises outside. 

"Hey, Loki." You said, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"There's something I've been wanting to say to you," You started, "ever since we all spent the night in that barn."

"Oh?" He replied to you, a smirk forming on his face. "And what would that be."

You were silent for a few moments before you finally replied. "You..." you stopped for a second and laughed quietly then looked back at him. "are a damn good kisser."

"Oh!" He said, the smirk on his face growing wider, obviously delighted to hear such a comment from you. "Then I suppose you wouldn't object to me doing it again."

"He he! Of course not." You replied. 

Loki leaned closer to you while he put one hand behind your head to pull you towards him. You got closer and closer until your lips were just a few centimeters apart. You closed your eyes and -

"I HAVE MORE WOOD!"

At the sound of the interrupting voice, Loki sighed and then laughed. "Perhaps some other time then." He said to you.

You both returned to you regular sitting positions next to the small dwindling fire, waiting for Thor to walk in.

He returned carrying more wood in his arms. He came in and sat the wood onto the floor of the cave. He then grabbed a couple of the logs and put them into the fire. You moved, and blew at the base of the fire, hoping to help it spread faster. It worked, and the other logs soon started to burn, making the fire stronger and warmer.

"Ha ha." You laughed. "I feel like we all should be tellin' campfire stories and eating marshmallows."

"Well, might want to do something to pass the time." Thor replied. "There's a snowstorm starting out there."

You glance outside of the cave and saw that it had quickly turned into blizzard like conditions. Snow was falling in sheets and the winds were highly erratic, gusting in one direction and then suddenly shifting to a different direction.

You knew very well that going out in that storm would be a death sentence. 

So to pass the time while you waited for the storm to clear, you all sat in the cave, talking randomly about various topics ranging from mildly serious, to down right silly. You all got a few laughs out of it, which was a nice change of things.

Later, after the snowstorm had settled down, you all decided that you had to leave and continue on. With the weather being unpredictable you didn't want to wait too long and end up getting stuck out in another blizzard. The three of you got up and left the cave. 

"Our footprints from yesterday are gone, but we can't let our guard down." You said.

"In that dream you had didn't you say that someone found us before we entered the military base?" Loki asked you.

"Yeah." You answered him. After a second of thought you realized what he was getting at, and you sighed. "I guess that means that Sutter is going to find us no matter what precautions we take."

"But that just means that we'll have to prepare ourselves." Loki then replied to you. "We know that he's going to be there."

"That's true." You said. "We sort of have the element of surprise."

You all continued walking through the fields in search of the entrance to the military base. It seems like you had been walking forever without getting any results, but then you saw something in the distance. You pointed at it while telling Loki and Thor that it had to be the entrance. 

You all got closer to it, and then, once you were close enough to tell what it was, you started to run.

You arrived at it, and you knew that this was it. The door, the lettering, the location, this was just like what you saw in your dream.

You glanced around you for a second and saw no sign of Sutter. You turned back to the door noticing that it was similar to a vault. It had a large wheel on the front which had to be turned to open it. You tried to turn the wheel but it seemed that you weren't strong enough. You didn't expect it to be that easy to get into the place anyway...

While you focused on that, a shadow fell over you..

"I knew this was too easy." You thought to yourself. You turned around and saw just the person you expected. 

Before you could do anything, Sutter suddenly grabbed you, one arm holding you around the neck and the other holding a knife to your throat. He was nearly choking you, and you could feel the tip of the knife against your skin. It all happened faster than you could react. Loki and Thor moved toward Sutter, but they couldn't do anything because he stepped back and threatened them.

"Take one more step and she's history." He said evily, tightening his arm around your neck. Loki looked at you.

Sutter continued speaking, but as he spoke he slightly loosened his hold on you just enough for you to turn your head, and, taking this chance, you quickly moved your head and bit down on Sutter's hand.

"AHH!" He shouted, now pushing you to the ground and into the snow. "You little bitch!"

"WHAT did you just call me?!" You shouted back, getting up from the snow.

"Little bitch! That's what I called ya!" 

"Oh, Hell Nah!"

Before you could jump and go at him for the incredibly rude remake, Loki and Thor were already on the attack.

During the struggle of the fight, Sutter still held his knife in his hand, but when he was knocked to the ground, Loki quickly snatched it from him then turned and stabbed Sutter in his side, making him scream out in pain.

While Sutter was down Loki and Thor ran back over to where you were standing by the entrance. Thor quickly opened the door, revealing a long staircase that led down into the base.

"Go!" You said. "While he's still down!"

The three of you started down the stairs, rushing down into who knows what.

You neared the end of the staircase, and as soon as you stepped foot on the tiled floor loud blaring alarms started sounding. It only took a matter of seconds before whatever guards were inside to find you with the intent of hurting you all if necessary. They had various weapons that you didn't want to find out what they did, and the rush towards you ready to fight.

You all ran from them, knowing that if you didn't they would most certainly not even hesitate to shoot on sight.

"Where would the keep the crystalite at?" You heard Thor ask. 

"Look for a storage room!" You answered, remember Alex's story.

The guards continued chasing you while more of the came into the chase as reinforcements. 

Suddenly you heard a loud noise coming from behind them, and then just as sudden many of the fell to the floor. The rest of them turned around to see what was happening.

You knew exactly what was going on. Sutter had gotten in and he got a hold of one of their weapons.

"There!" You hear Thor's voice again. You looked over and saw that he was pointing at a distant door that was labeled as the storage. You all quickly made it to the door, hoping that no other guards were following you.

When you tried to turn the knob you realized that it was locked.

Thor told you to move out of the way, and he stepped back a few feet then rammed the door, easily making it open. You all entered the room which, to your surprise, was full of hundred of different gemstone and other natural elements. in the back of the room you saw on lone gemstone sitting by itself on a shelf. Once you saw it's blue color and how it seemed to "glow" slightly, you knew automatically that it was the crystalite. 

You moved towards the gemstone and grabbed it, but then a sudden voice from behind you made you freeze in place. You all turned around to see Sutter standing before you yet again, despite all of the injuries he already had. With the previous stab wound he now had other wounds on his face and neck, most likely caused by the guards.

"Not another move." He said in a very rough sounding tone. You could tell that the injuries were taking their told on him, but somehow he was still able to get back up and continue after you. In his hand he held a small remote of some sort that had a single red button. "Try anything... and I will blow this whole place to high heaven." He said gesturing to the remote. "Put the crystalite on the floor and then leave your hands where I can see them."

You exchanged a quick glance with Loki, and then you slowly bent down, laying the gem on the floor. You stood back up, keeping your hands in the air. 

"Good." Sutter laughed. "Finally see that you can't win, huh?" He started walking towards the gem. "Y'all are fools to think that you could beat me. You may have put up quite a chase, but you've spelled out your own demise." He continued forward...

_'come on...'_

"You see, it's either you or me who's gonna be stuck here." Sutter continued. "But, I've been living in this hellhole of a time period for longer then you can imagine, so it's definitely not going to be me."

Right when he bent down and was about to grab the crystalite you kicked the remote out of his hand, sending it flying across the room. The action took Sutter by surprise, but before he could react you continued your attack and tackled him to the floor. Once he knew what was happening, Sutter quickly threw you off and got up. You tried to get back up, but he kicked you back down to the floor, causing you to groan at the pain.

Rolling over, you saw that both Loki and Thor continued the attack. Sutter tried fighting back, but with all of his previous injuries, he was easily subdued. Thor had him held down to the floor.

"His belt!" You called. "The device is on his belt!"

Loki snatched the time travel device off of Sutter belt, and then ran over to you, helping you up.

Now that you had the device, the only thing you needed was the Crystalite. You rushed back over to it, picking it up again. Knowing that you needed a small fragment of the stone, you couldn't think of anything else to do but to smash it. You raised the gemstone over your head, and then slammed it onto the floor, shattering it to hundreds of tiny pieces.

"NO!!" Sutter yelled out, while still trying to escape Thor's hold. "What have you done!!? You've destroyed the most powerful source of natural energy!"

You and Loki quickly searched through the Crystalite fragments, trying to find one that would fit the device. 

"Here!" Loki said to you, as he grabbed one. You took the crystal fragment from him, and placed it in the center of the device. As soon as the crystal was in place it started glowing a bright blue. You quickly started turning the dials on the device, setting it back to the correct point in time. 

"Thor!" You called to him. "Let's go!"

Thor got up, letting go of Sutter and quickly rushing over to you. Sutter seemed to have regained some energy, as he got up and charged towards the three of you. When Thor reached you and Loki, you quickly pressed the gemstone causing the device to surround you in a field of energy. 

That field quickly grew brighter until it then released an energy blast that sent Sutter flying backwards, while it returned you three back to your own time period.

When the light from the device faded, Sutter could only look at the spot that you once stood. The only thing left in your place was the tiny shards of the once whole Crystalite.

* * *

Returning to the future, the force that the Crystalite produced left all three of you gasping for air until the power of the gemstone quickly wore off.

"Did it work?" Thor said.

You looked around a bit at your surroundings. "Ha... Ha! Yes! It - It worked!" You were back. Back in the correct time period. The Crystalite worked! Everything came together and all the planning paid off, because you were back!

You may have returned to the future, but this was not a time for celebration.

"We can't forget our objective here, guys." You said. "We still need to rescue Sleipnir! I set the device to send us back to just before the scientists stole him from the ranch. We need to hurry. We only have 15 minutes."

"Which way do we go?" Thor asked. 

"This way," You said, pointing to your left.

"Lets go save Sleipnir!"


	16. Resolute

_"Let's go save Sleipnir!"_

The three of you began running in the direction of the stable. You found it to be quiet miraculous that when you activated the time travel device it transported you not only back to the correct time period but also the the exact location. You had landed near the south end of the ranch, next to one of the main riding trails which gave you a quick and easy path straight to Sleipnir.

You rushed ahead, leading the way for Loki and Thor. As you continued down the path you looked past the trees and down at the road in the distance. Just as you were about to look away, the truck appeared over the horizon line.

You mentally cursed, thinking that you'd have more time. You knew you had to hurry.

The truck arrived just as you were nearing the stable, and when the scientists saw you they automatically tried to get in your way, jumping out of the truck and running in your direction. Loki and Thor caught up to you, and Thor quickly told you and Loki to run for it. He did his best to keep the scientists from continuing after you.

With Thor holding off the men, you and Loki quickly entered the stable. You rushed over to Sliepnir's pen, almost tripping when you tried to slow down from running so fast. You quickly opened the gate as you got a slight feeling of joy just seeing Sleipnir alive. At the sight of you and Loki, Sleipnir nay-ed, almost seeming like he was saying that he was happy to see you both.

"We don't have time to put a saddle on him." You said to Loki, "Has he ever been ridden bareback?"

"He doesn't respond very well to it."

"Well he's gonna have to deal with it." You climbed onto the wooden border of the pen and then got onto Sleipnir's back. He obviously didn't enjoy being ridden like this, but, given the circumstances, this was the only option. "Come on!" You said back to Loki. He got onto Sleipnir, causing the horse to nay in protest again. You reached forward, removing the lead from its attached place on the pen, and then used it to act like makeshift reins.

Using a verbal command you told the horse to start running and you quickly rushed out of the stable. As soon as you got out of the building you saw that more scientists had arrived, leading you to conclude that the previous ones had called in reinforcements. You could see also that Thor was having a hard time standing up against all of them. There were twenty or so scientists who were all acting out against him, and because of the fact that many of them had tazers, Thor couldn't even stand up from the ground. 

You knew that you needed to think fast. You needed yo get away from the scientists, and stop them from following you. You had almost no room for error. One false move and this whole thing could come crashing down around you. You knew this, and it seemed that simply because of this fact your mind was working at a faster rate than usual. Your reasoning and problem solving abilities were in overdrive and your thoughts were always one, two, even three steps ahead, planning how you would shake these scientists off of your tail.

When the scientists all heard the sound of hooves clicking on the ground, they directed their attention towards the sound, noticing you. They all acted and blocked your path. Sliepnir seemed to be getting frightened as he was slowing down and tried to turn the other way, but you made him keep going straight forward by pulling on the reigns. 

As you came closer to the group of scientists, things seemed to go in slow motion. You eyes picked up on even the tiniest movements as the seconds passed ever so slowly. You noticed the actions of each and every one of the scientists and knew almost exactly what they were doing. The closer you came to them, the more you could see. With your mind and senses in hyper drive, you knew their next actions before they even did them, which left you time to think of a counter-attack. It was almost as if your brain was seeing into the near future. That future may only be a few seconds away but that was enough for your thought process to complete and for you to carry out the counters. 

_"Scientist on far left, reaching for his side. Handgun."_ You said in your head. _"Female scientist, center right. Tazer. Move slightly left to evade. Men at center, will try to attack. Avoidance strategies of all three, limited."_

You mind saw all of these actions and then seconds later they started to happen. First the man on the left reached for his gun, while the female scientist picked up tazer from the ground. They both raised their weapons, nearly at the same time. The other scientist started to run to get out of the way of the speeding horse, but the two men at center still remained. You slightly made the horse veer to the left. In the next second you pulled up on Slipnirs reigns, forcing him to jump into the air, the shot from the gun missing you entirely, the woman's tazer just out of reach, and the men at center left to only watch as the equine jumped over them.

You saw things now at their normal speed as Sleipnir descended back to the ground, knocking the two center men in the back of their heads during the rough landing. The jumping maneuver was a risky idea, being that there was nothing to hold you onto the horse and the fact that you and Loki could have easily both fell off and hit the ground, but risk is always worth the reward.

You pulled Sliepnir to a stop, turning him around. The scientists who were knocked in the head were laying there unconscious, and the others were rushing over to their aid. With this momentary distraction, you looked towards where Thor was and noticed that he had gotten back up. You called over to him, asking if he was alright. He told you that he was fine, and motioned for you to go. 

You didn't exactly want to leave Thor there, in the midst of the scientists, but you wanted to get Sleipnir as far away from here as possible. You turned Sleipnir around again, and made him start running. 

You kept riding and riding until you were well away from the stable.

* * *

Sooner than you thought, you had arrived back at that circle on the ground; the same one that Loki had used before on the last trip to Asgard. You slowed Slipenir to a stop, and you both got off of him.

"We did it, Loki! We did it," You said as a sudden rush of excitement raced through you. "Sliepnir is alive," You hugged the horse around his neck, joy filling every corner of your mind. "We're back in our own time period. We did it!" At your last sentence you turned and then hugged Loki, almost knocking his over. He kept his balance, and then hugged you back. "Everything is fixed."

You both stood there for a moment, and then you moved back a bit. Loki still kept him arms wrapped around you. Sliepnir, for whatever reason, was circling the two of you a bit. He stopped behind Loki, and then, using his head, the horse nudged him closer to you. Loki looked back at him, laughing a bit. Sliepnir continued nudging him. Animals are said to very receptive and able to easily recognize affection when they see it. It seemed that this was absolutely true for Sliepnir. You both laughed when he pushed Loki once again. He turned his gaze back to you, the both of you looking deeply into the others eyes, and smiles appearing on your faces. A moment later, Loki put one hand under your chin, tilting you face slightly upward as he lowered his head and pulled you into a kiss.

Ohh... and what a kiss it was. 

It was a kiss that more that made up for when you two were interrupted back in that mountain cave. It was truly wonderful, and even though it sounds cliche, it felt so damn magical. You wished that it would never end.

Sadly though, it had to. 

Sliepnir nay-ed happily, the on-looker pleased.

As wonderful as the moment was, you and Loki both knew that you really should return Sliepnir back to where he belongs. 

Loki was the first to speak, "...I think we should go now."

You nodded your head in agreement, but then a thought came to you. "Wait, What about Thor? He's still back at the ranch. I don't think we should leave him with all those scientists running a muck."

"Oh don't worry about him." Loki assured you. "Now that we are in the correct time period, his powers should soon return, and he'll be more than capable of taking care of a few scientists."

Ah, yes. That makes sense. With that knowledge, you nodded again.

Loki grabbed Sliepnir's lead, and you all walked closer to that circle on the ground.

"W-Wait." You said suddenly while stopping. Loki looked over at you curiously. "Before we go back to Asgard, ther- there's somewhere I want to go."

"And where would that be?" He asked you.

"It's not far from here..." You replied. "I just... I want you to see it."

* * *

You soon arrived at where you wanted to go. Upon approaching the front gate you and Loki both got down off of Sliepnir. You held the horses lead while you continued walking. The atmosphere around the place you were at was much different than anywhere else. There was a stillness in the air, and all was quiet. Places like this always seemed this way. Even if it was a windy day the air here would be silent. By day, when you would normally hear birds and other animals elsewhere, you would hear nothing at all here. After dark, when you'd expect to hear crickets all there would be was silence.

Places like this are filled with many different emotions; pain... sorrow... and even regret... but also of remembrance, wonder and victory. You couldn't remember the last time you had been here... But being here now gave you a sense of peace. You continued walking but then finally stopped, looking down at the spot on the ground in front of you.

"[Name], why are we at a graveyard?" Loki asked you.

You didn't reply to him, but instead bent down in front of the gravestone you were standing by. The stone was covered with moss from being left untouched for so long. You reached your hand out and brushed the moss off, exposing the inscription underneath. You stared at it for a few seconds, and then, after taking in a breath and letting out a small sigh, you began to read what was written. "Here lay a man who fought until the very end. Even though he may have perished trying to save the life of another, he fought against those who were in the wrong, and for that, he will, in the eyes of his family and friends, be viewed, always and forever, as a hero." You had to try really hard to prevent yourself from crying as you recited those words. After you took a moment to compose yourself, you looked away from the stone and continued speaking. "...This is my father's grave."

"Your father's?" Loki said, leaning down next to you.

"Yeah... Do you remember how I told you that... he was tricked by that company that stole my horse when I was younger?"

"Yes."

"Well... Unknown to me at the time, he apparently tracked down those people and... he went after them and tried to rescue her."

"Like we did for Sliepnir."

"Right... But, his journey didn't end quite the same was that ours did." You could feel the tears forming in your eyes as you thought about the horrible... horrible event. "He found their headquarters and fought his way though countless numbers of people. He had such determination and persistence... Ha... He got so far too. He was so close, yet so far from victory. He ended up finding the horse, but he was too late and she had already died at the scientists hands. He became enraged and went on a rampage, fighting the scientists and destroying anything he could get his hands on... But... during the fight... the people inside... they... they killed him." Even though you were not there at all when this horrific event took place, the news reports and autopsy results gave you information enough that the whole thing was playing out in your head as if you were reliving it from your fathers eyes on that same day. Throughout this whole experience you saw flashbacks to an event that you didn't even see with your own eyes, and it terrified you.

"Is... that why you've been so focused on saving Sliepnir?"

"Sort of..." You replied. "That's part of it anyway. I didn't want to end up reliving the same story that my father did."

"And what was the other part?"

You didn't speak for a good few moments. Just simply thinking of the reason made you want to cry even more than you already were. "When those scientists were taking Sliepnir from the stable... I noticed something on their lab coats... A symbol... A very... familiar symbol..."

You didn't have to continue because Loki already knew what you meant.

"The people who took Sliepnir were the same ones who killed your father... weren't they?"

"Yeah..." You replied quietly. "Same agency... same people from all those years ago."

"It wasn't just for Sliepnir that you wanted to help me, you had a personal vendetta against those people." Loki said.

"I guess I've... always has some sort of subconscious desire to..."

"Get revenge on them?"

"Revenge is a strong word." You said to Loki. "I just... I don't know the word for it... People always say that the past cannot be changed, but they forget that the future is still within our hands. It's us who shape the future, and it's our job to make sure that it turns out right... I... I wanted to make sure that history wouldn't repeat itself." As you said this, you thought about your experiences all spanning from the time travel device. You knew that, technically, the past CAN be changed, but really, the past should not be tampered with. The events of the past teach us how we can prevent such events from happening again. They show us how one mistake can turn into a huge mess and lead to horrible things. 

"And it hasn't... We've prevented history from being repeated..." Loki replied. "And for that, I think your father would be proud of you."

"Yeah..."

You stayed there for a few more minutes, sitting in silence. 

"I think we should go..." You said finally. Loki simply nodded. You both stood up, grabbed Sliepnir's lead and began walking back out of the cemetery. While you were walking, you looked over your shoulder, giving the gravestone one last glance. 

Later, Back in Asgard.

"So then." Odin said as Sliepnir was lead by two palace guards to his quarters. "It seems that everything has come full circle. The only thing left would be to put the time travel device back in its place in the vault. Who has it?"

Thor answered, "[name] dose." Like Loki had said before, Thor's powers had returned to him, and he was able to return to Asgard even before you and Loki arrived with Sliepnir.

You held your arm up as Odin turned to look at you. You stared for a second at the device on your arm. The two matching bands and central elements which both slightly glowed mesmerized you for a moment before Odin spoke again.

"Ah," He said, taking notice of it. "Good. If you could hand it to me, I'll have someone return it to the vault right away."

You were still looking at the device and didn't reply to the demand. A few seconds passed and you noticed that the room had went silent. You looked back up and then started speaking. "Before that, I want to ask you something." You said to Odin.

"Oh, and what would that be, child?"

You took a moment to form the question in your mind before you said it out loud, making sure to... word it correctly. "Why do you think that it took us so long to do this... simple task of rescuing Sliepnir?"

From the corner of your eye, you could see that Loki and Thor both gave you an odd look, knowing that this task was far from simple. You expected such looks though.

"Well, I wouldn't know... I was not there to experience it with you."

"Alright... fair enough." You said back. "What do you think we had to go through to accomplish this? What kind of... dangers did we face?"

"I already said, I... do not know." Odin replied, seeming slightly nervous as you asked him these questions.

"Oh... I think you do know." You continued. "You know exactly what happened. You know everything, because... You... You planned this whole thing."

Odin eyes widened, shocked at your words, "Now, I would never! Why would I want my two sons to knowingly be put in danger? Why would I want them to be chased by a murderer?"

"AH-HA!" You said, your voice suddenly increasing in volume. "I never said anything about us being chased by a murderer!"

The room was silent again, and now Thor was looking at Odin with a shocked expression.

"You planned the whole thing!" You continued, still in a loud tone of voice. "I know the story, Odin. You only had half of the time travel device; Half of a device which you stole from a midgardian! A certain midgardian named John Sutter! You tried to take both halves, but it broken when you fought to take it from Sutter. You hated that you didn't have both sides of the artifact for your little 'treasure vault'. You wanted the other to complete the collection. In order to do that it would involve traveling back in time, but oh no, you weren't going to do that by yourself, no. The king can't leave. So you hatched a rather elaborate plan..." Odin wasn't saying anything and the look on his face still was serious, but you knew that that serious expression was just hiding his surprise that you had figured out his whole plan... every little detail... 

"You were the one who released Sliepnir, you were the one who sent him to Midgard, and you were the one who notified the agency of the new "Species." You sent Loki to Midgard to "rescue" him. Your plan was to have the scientists kill Slipenir so Loki would come back and ask you about using the time travel technology you already had. He would use it, thinking that he was going back only to the point to save his horse. Loki didn't know at that time that we wouldn't be able to return to the future. When Thor activated the time travel device, The date and time was set just like it was supposed to. But, a split second before the device sent us back, I noticed something. I saw you do something with your hands, and than the date on the device changed... You were the one who sent us back to California circa 1848!"

Odin suddenly moved and countered your words. "Midgardian, I will not allow such talk within the halls of Asgard!"

"You sent us back to 1848 when you knew damn well of what was there! You knew that Sutter would want to reclaim the device that you stole! You put us right in the path of a murderer all because of your own selfish greedy desires!" You were shouting even louder now, and you were pretty sure that all of the guards in the room were staring at you.

Odin kept his straight face but then looked down at the ground. Another silence.

"...Father." Thor said. You had forgotten that he and Loki were in the room, so the suddenly voice frightened you a bit. Thor took a step towards Odin. "Is what [name] says true?"

Odin didn't reply.

"Father, answer me!"

Odin raised his look from the floor, and looked at Thor for a moment. Then he looked away, staring off into an empty corner of the room. "...Yes."

Thor was about to say something to his father, but you cut him off. 

"You know, Odin... You are quite the actor. All of this was very elaborate and well thought out..." You said. "And you almost pulled it off... You almost pulled the wool over our eyes and got away with it. You almost pulled off the perfect crime... But almost only works in horseshoes and hand grenades!"

"Well..." Odin said. "I will admit, I did not think that you would be so intuitive, Midgardian."

"Oh, I know." You replied, matter-of-factly. "And... I honestly don't understand why... You knew that Midgardians were smart, which is why you yelled at Loki for bringing me here in the first place. Perhaps you thought... _maybe all Midgardians aren't as intelligent as you pegged them._ Either you really thought that I was dumb, or you seriously have no common sense. It was the human race who invented time travel after all... not you."

"Alright, are you finished yet?" Odin replied, somewhat rudely.

After a few seconds you replied, "...Yes... I'm done."

"Good..." He waited a few moments, looking away again. "Now that everything is out in the open... and we all understand everything... I will ask you one more time... to hand over the time device."

Your expressionless face didn't change at all as you heard his demand, despite how much you wanted to laugh in his face. You looked at the device again before you simply replied, "No."

"What do you mean no!?" Odin shouted, obviously starting to get furious.

"I mean, I'm not giving it back!" You told him. You had no clue why you were acting this way, but one thing you did know was that Odin was the sole reason why mankind didn't have time travel. "It doesn't belong to you! You stole it from Earth and I'm going to return it to where it belongs!"

Odin's expression went from angry to completely pissed off in a matter of seconds. 

From that moment on, things all happened way to fast. Too fast for you to even react. 

You remember Odin doing something with his staff...

You heard Loki and Thor's voices overlapping each other, one yelling at Odin, the other yelling your name.

You remember... having an odd feeling...

Then everything went silent.... No yells... no voices... nothing at all...

You couldn't recall anything that happened after that...

* * *

"[Name]? [Name]!"

"Huh?" You said, suddenly coming to your senses. You looked in front of you and saw Drake looking at you with a pretty concerned look.

"Are you alright?" He asked you. "You spaced out pretty bad there for a moment."

You were confused... You looked around and noticed that you were at the ranch inside the stable, standing in front of Lightning's pen. Everything seemed normal, but... you couldn't remember anything. What were you doing?

Drake noticed your obvious confusion, and again, asked what was wrong.

"I... I don't know..." You replied. "Wh - What was I doing?"

"You were telling me about the new mare that arrived this morning... Are you sure you're okay?" 

"I... I think so... I just... don't remember anything." Something about this felt weird. You felt like there was huge important thing that you were supposed to remember, but your memory failed you... You felt really strange and you didn't know why. 

"Uh... Wait right here, [name]." Drake said to you as he walked off.

He came back about 5 minutes later.

"Come on," He said, "I gonna take you home."

"What? I can't, I have work to do here." You replied.

"I already talked to Boss about it, and he agreed that you should go home for the day."

It surprised you how much Drake actually cared for you. Even though you disagreed, you decided that it would be best for you to follow Drake's advice, and go home. 

He drove you back to your house, letting you know that he would have your car in your driveway in the morning. You thanked him for driving you home.

Before he left he told you, "Try and get some sleep. That might help with your memory."

You thought that sooner or later you would stop having this strange feeling of forgetting something, but you were wrong. 

Over the next week or so it only got worse. You tried to ignore the feeling but it was increasingly hard to do so. You started having weird daja vu moment at random times - mostly when you were working with any of the horses - and you didn't know why, but it felt like you had experienced a lot of this before. Sometimes it even happened during conversation. Someone would say a word and you would start to have a flashback moment, but it would stop halfway through and you would see nothing. 

Then the dreams started. They were the strangest things, happening every single night, and you could always remember them with exact detail, but none of them made any sense. The one thing that they had in common was that there was always this one guy. You didn't know who he was, or what he looked like - he always had his back turned so you never saw his face - but for some reason you felt like you knew him from somewhere.

* * *

**Meanwhile, In Asgard.**

Life for Loki was almost the same as it always was, but something seemed off. Something didn't exactly feel right. The God of Mischief didn't know why he felt this way, but something told him that something was amiss; that something was... missing. It was an odd feeling to the God, and no matter how hard he tried to figure out why he felt this way, he could not find any results. He tried to pass off the feeling simply as paranoia, but it still didn't make sense.

"Brother!" Loki heard one day. He was in his room when Thor suddenly burst through the door. "Brother, you must see this!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just come outside!"

Thor ran off without telling Loki anything else.

Loki contemplated ignoring Thor and just staying in his room, but curiosity drove him to get up and see what all the hype was for. Thor didn't get excited for something without there being a reason. He went out through one of palace doors. 

Once outside he quickly saw what Thor was talking about.

It was snowing.

"Look, Brother!" Loki heard Thor's voice. He looked towards the sound of the voice. "It's snowing!"

Thor wasn't the only one who was excited about this. Loki looked around and saw many of the palace guards and servants, The warriors three, and even Sif. They all seemed amazed and overly-excited about this. They all were acting like children; catching snowflakes on their tongues, and, when the slow started to stick to the ground, starting snowball fights, and making snow angels. It was quite a hilarious scene to watch. Even some of the mightiest warriors of Asgard were running around as if they were 5 year olds. 

And, they actually had reason too. It hadn't snowed in Asgard for hundreds of years. To almost everyone this was a miracle of nature.

Loki wasn't partaking in any of the activities with the others. He rather was standing more on the sidelines, watching everyone else revert to acting like children, getting a good laugh or two out of it. Loki never liked snow at all. Whenever he would touch snow it would bring out the... other side of him... even if it was just for a second. For some odd reason he took one hand out of his jacket pocket and held it out in front of him. A few snowflakes fell onto his skin, and, just as he expected, the place where the snow touched turned blue. It was only for a second until the snowflakes melted. 

_Why did he feel like this has happened before?_

He looked back in front of him, catching glance of a snowball flying through the air. He watched it hit Thor in the back on the head. 

He turned around to see who threw it at him, and spotted Jane standing, laughing at him. 

This started a snowball fight between the two. They went back and forth, throwing snow to each other, sometimes missing the other completely. During this, Thor must have thrown a snowball with too much force. When it hit Jane in the side of the head she stumbled backwards a bit and fell into a snow pile behind her.

_This seemed so... familiar._

Thor rushed over to her, "Are you alright, Jane?" He asked her while hold his hand out to help her up, "I hadn't meant to hurt you." 

Jane reached, and took Thor's hand, but rather than standing up, like Thor expected, she tugged on him arm, making him fall into the snow pile as well.

For a moment, they both just laid there, but then they couldn't contain their laughter any longer.

_Wait..._

Something clicked within Loki's mind and he gasped as everything started to come back to him.

Everything.

He remembered now. 

And now that he knew this again, he felt a rising feeling of rage towards Odin for making him forget in the first place. 

But, Loki knew exactly what to do.

* * *

**Back on Midgard.**

To anyone else, it would have looked like you were living your life just as normally as ever, but Drake knew better. He knew you way better than any of your other co-workers, and even better than Boss did.

One day, while you were taking a break from tending to the horses, he walked up to you and asked, "Have you still been having that strange confused feeling?"

"Yeah." You replied. "It's been getting even stranger..."

"Oh? How's that?" He asked, sitting down next to you on the bench you were on.

"I've been having these weird reoccurring dreams..."

Drake was quiet for a few minutes, but then started speaking again. "Um... You know... My mother is a Psychiatrist, and... I-I don't like to admit it, but I sometime steal her textbooks and read about that stuff."

"You're interested in psychology?"

"Well... with the amount of knowledge I have I say that I'm pretty much a certified Psychiatrist myself."

"Oh... That's... That's cool." You said.

"I might be able to help you... I-If you want me too, that is."

If it was anyone else, you probably would have said no, but Drake was your friend and you trusted him... "Okay."

You answer brought a smile to Drake's face, "Okay. How about you tell me what happens in your dreams."

"Well... Nothing really." You said. "The only thing they have in common is that there is always this guy."

"Do you know who that man is?" He asked you

"No. He always has his back turned so I can't see his face."

"Hum..." Drake took this information in, and thought for a moment. "Do you ever see yourself in this dream?"

"No... wait, yes. Once." You said. "I was there and - and I was running towards the man, but whenever I would get close to him he seemed to just... vanish into thin air... Like he was just an illusion. And it's weird too, I normally can't remember by dreams once I wake up, but with this one I can remember everything, even down to the tiniest detail."

"I see..."

"And I don't know if I'm right," You continued, "but I think maybe that dream is linked to why I feel like something's missing."

"Missing? How so?"

"Well... over the past week I've felt like something... was wrong. Like the events of my life didn't play out like they were supposed to." You said. "It isn't just a feeling of confusion. I feel more like I'm supposed to be remembering something, but Its just been erased from my memory."

"Well there is a condition known as Retrograde Amnesia," Drake answered, "where memories can be lost from the mind, but that sort of Amnesia is most often associated with traumatic events. The event in question being so traumatizing to the subject that the mind forces itself to forget all memory of it." This didn't sounds applicable to your situation. he continued thinking for a few more moments and then continued speaking, "Do you perhaps think that maybe the man in your dreams is a person from your past?"

"I don't know. And that's what really bothers me!" You explained. "I want to know who he is, but I just... can't figure it out."

Drake waited a moment, taking in all of your words. "Studies have shown that dreams can sometimes actually be repressed memories. You say that your remember the dream perfectly and that may be because it's your mind recalling a certain memory, but it is presenting it to you in an odd way... Have you been experiencing any daja vu lately?"

"Yeah... Actually I have. Much more frequently then usual." You answered

"I have an idea. Let's do some word association." He said. "It's usually an easy way to start before going into more... complicated things. It could bring out words that could trigger your memory and help you to discover the actual meaning behind your dreams. I'll say a word, and all you have to do is say the first word that comes to mind. I know, I sound like those cliche Television Psychologists, but this does work more often than not."

"Alright."

"Here we go. Now close your eyes." He replied. You followed his instruction, closing your eyes. He then said the first word. "Dog."  
"Cat."

"Horse." Was the next word.  
Your first instinct was to say. "Saddle."

When he said, "Sky."   
You said, "Moon."

When he said, "Night."   
You said, "Shooting star."

He said, "New year's eve."   
and you replied, "New York City."

With the word, "Dallas."   
You said, "Texas."

When she said, "California."   
You replied, "Gold rush."

Before Drake could say the next word, you suddenly gasped, your eyes snapping open. At the mention of that one particular event in history, everything came flooding back to you all at one time. Everything. Gold rush, 1848, time travel, Sutter, James, Crystalite, snowfield, Sliepnir... 

"Loki." You said to yourself

"What was that? I didn't hear you." Drake asked.

"Uh... Oh." You stood up from your seat and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Drake. You're the best."

"Your welcome, [name], but-"

"Thank you!" You were already rushing away before Drake could say anything else to you.

_Drake was silent for a few moments after you left. "Damn..." He said to himself. "I am good!"_

* * *

Loki.

It was Loki!

He was the one in your dreams!

How could you not remember him? How could you forget the journey you went on with him to bring Sliepnir back to life? How could you forget the challenges you faced, when trying to return to the future. How could you forget how he made sure that you kept your head on straight and never gave up? How could you forget that feeling of victory when you were successful in your mission to save Sliepnir. How could you forget... That feeling that Loki gave you whenever he looked at you with his deep, emerald green eyes. How could your forget the sense of... love you felt whenever he kissed you? How could you forget? You had no idea why you couldn't remember before, but you had your memory now, and that is what counted.

You began rushing to your car, running past the stable on the way there. While you were running, you heard the noise of hooves sounding behind you. You turned your head and saw a horse running out of the stable. You stopped in your tracks, your mind going in to code red mode. 

A run-away horse is never a good thing. 

The animal was running in your direction, and you tried using a verbal command to make the horse stop. The command did not work however, and the horse still continued towards you. You moved to get out of the way of the animal, but instead the animal simply turned, slowing down a bit, and walked up to you. 

You realized now that you didn't recognize this horse at all. He couldn't be a horse that live here at the ranch. You would have known.

It was a male horse, with a mostly grey coat, darker grey mane, and green eyes.

...Strange.

Not knowing what else to do, and the fact that you had other things you wanted to be doing, you decided to just lead the horse back to the stable. You'd tell Boss about it later, and he can sort it all out. 

The horse followed you as you walked, which you thought was strange. You didn't know this horse so you thought it was a bit odd that he was being so friendly to you. You easily led him into the stable and put him into an empty pen. When you turned around to go back towards your car, the horse nay-ed loudly, seeming like he didn't want you to leave.

You walked back to the horse, offering him some sugar cube to maybe calm him down. He didn't take the cubes though. He moved his head, and then knocked them out off your hand. 

Now that you thought about it, this horse seemed familiar. 

Wait... He didn't like sugar cubes... He seemed like he already knew you and he had those bright green eyes... was that-

From behind you heard a voice speak, "It's so good to see you again, [name]."

You turned around and looked to see who it was. 

It was a man standing there; tall with short curly brown hair. He walked closer and now stood right in front of you. You saw his bright vivid green eyes, nearly the same shade as that of the unknown horse. 

Suddenly the man put his hands to your face and pressed his lips to yours in a rather forceful manner; it almost hurt, but he then lightened the pressure, the kiss turning into a soft peck. 

He pulled himself away from you, looking you in the eyes. He snapped his fingers and both he and the horse changed appearance. Before you now stood Loki and beside you was Sliepnir.

"Loki!" You said, throwing your arms around him you were absolutely joyous right now. You had just regained your memories and then just minutes later here Loki was. "Oh my god, you don't know how happy I am to see you!"

"I'm Overjoyed to see you again, [name]." He replied.

"Wh-Why were you in disguise?"

"Hehe, If I remember correctly a certain co-worker of yours doesn't particularly like me."

"Oh, right." You replied, hugging him even tighter. "Oh god, this past week has been terrible, I am so glad that you're here now."

"I can say the same." 

"I - I don't know why I forgot about you, but when I remembered all I wanted to do was find you and tell you that -"

"It was Odin." Loki answered. "He erased both of our memories. He used some sort of master reset. To anyone else it is like nothing ever happened."

"Odin..." You hissed his name. "That jerk. I should have known that he had something to do with this! Man, If I ever see his face again, I'm giving him a piece of my mind!" 

"Oh, don't worry. There'll be time for that later. I have a few choice words for him myself."

Your anger towards Odin still surfaced within you, but you decided to ignore it and enjoy this moment with Loki. You sighed contently, "This - This is so amazing, Loki." You looked up at him,

"Amazing indeed." He replied to you with a smile.

You were almost crying right now. Crying tears of joy and amazement. you felt tears in your eyes and one escaped, sliding down your cheek. Loki reached his hand up, and brushed the tear away with his thumb. You both stared at each other, looking into the others eyes.

"Loki, I love you." You said after a moment.

A wide grin grew on his face as he pulled you into another kiss, just as passionate as the previous one. "Oh- [name], I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ER MEH GERD! Long chapter is LONG.   
> Holy shit, people, this chapter is the longest chapter of the whole story! The file size is 38.8KB and most of the chapters are under 20 kb! Goodness, a lot happened in this chapter 0-0  
> You saved Sleipnir.  
> You took a moment to remember your late father.  
> You returned to Asgard to find out that Odin actually planned this whole thing.  
> You were forced to forget about Loki and return to your life previous to when you met him.  
> You had strange feelings and de-va-zu and Drake preformed a therapist session with you during your work break.  
> You then suddenly remembered everything that had happened.  
> You spotted an unknown horse while rushing to your car and soon saw a disguised Loki show up.  
> ANND! You got to kiss Loki three times throughout the whole thing! :dance:  
> y'all better be happy!
> 
> Some parts of this aren't as thorough as I wanted them to be, but I think they still work :)
> 
> This isn't the end though. I have many more idea and I'm starting the next chapter soon. I can't give an exact ETA on it yet though.


End file.
